NuevaJess's blog: "NuevaJess Poems"

ME? A GROWN-UP? NAH!

Summers used to flow like molasses

And try as they might,

elders' forecasting of time's demise

always fell on deaf ears.

"It will not always be this way."

"When you get older..."

Was it jealousy? Envy perhaps?

What was the trigger?

They forgot that they too once

wore bulletproof vests against

the pelting of Father Time's seconds.

Remember those seasons that stretched like taffy?

Where September's freshly sharpened pencils

took their time in mocking hopscotch freedoms?

When do we stop just living our lives

and start picking it apart like dissections in science class?

I felt like I swallowed a jawbreaker

when I first uttered these horrific words:

"You will understand when you are older"

Thank goodness the little girl that was me

tagged me, told me I was "It"

and ran away giggling.

And in that moment I stopped the cycle.

I may have become an adult

but I will never be a stuffy old "grown-up"

So there!