Restless Summer
My life finally at full-volume
The city echoing back
the bright flicker beats of
a genuine smile
I shed excess layers like
a spring sweater
My true self,
a girl whose existence I wasn’t sure of,
slowly peeks her head out
with every day away
Coming home is an unwelcome pause
A dam in the flowing river of my life
These backroads aren’t any more welcoming
After years of change
They,
like everything else here,
have stayed the same
I stall, trapped in the confines of a past self
I’ve worked so hard to shake off
The physical signs of my emotional growth
attract scorn here
rather than praise
Anonymity sounds sweet again
Shrinking back into my mold hurts
It’s grown too tight to contain me in full bloom
I’ve grown too bright to be contained in a high school stereotype
Three months
That’s all that’s left
Fall means escape
Autumn means I can grow again