glow up grow up
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When I started making decisions on my own,
That’s when I first realized,
I was growing up.
When I applied for college,
Left home and moved into the dorms,
Set up several ‘back-up’ alarms,
Years ago,
my youth escaped me
I’ve seen it around
through glimpse of what could be
Years ago,
I became a grown up
started paying bills
became an expert on playing catchup
Years ago,
my youth escaped me
I’ve seen it around
through glimpse of what could be
Years ago,
I became a grown up
started paying bills
became an expert on playing catchup
I used to live in a place called childhood
With the air so warm and the sunshine bright
A dreamlike land that held no worries
A place designed for curiosity, wonder, and flight
The salt stings my eyes,
As tears blur my vision.
But I refuse to let them fall.
The skin on my palms now covered wih little crescent moons,
As the fear of losing you becomes real
The salt stings my eyes,
As tears blur my vision.
But I refuse to let them fall.
The skin on my palms now covered wih little crescent moons,
As the fear of losing you becomes real
Congrats you’re chronically ill
Go ahead and take these pills
Learn about your disease
It’ll give you a lil ease
Diagnosed with diabetes
I looked outside the window. It wasn’t pretty or serene
Trees were bending, ducking for cover
and snow hit the ground with a scream.
Unsure, I asked, “Is this a blizzard?”
I looked outside the window. It wasn’t pretty or serene
Trees were bending, ducking for cover
and snow hit the ground with a scream.
Unsure, I asked, “Is this a blizzard?”
I remember the time five of my friends
and I used a monitor as a karaoke machine
and blasted high school musical songs so loud
that we could be heard from the streets below.
We had colorful strobe lights going from
The short, sweet whistle of the bird wake me
Gripping my pillow I wake up shakily
What was I thinking, I cry almost shrieking
I should not have stayed up all of that night
I regret the night and wish I could light
Look Down On Me,
as i look up to my dreams
as i begin to start planning my schemes
though for you, not enough it seems.
Bring Me Down,
I hold the broken pieces of my heart
Every daughter needs her father
Life decided otherwise
I can't stop but think its a dream
Envy builds within me
Looking back at that morning
I sit, wondering who is watching me.
I know they must see my every mistake.
How is it this is all my life can be ?
I don’t know how much more stress I can take.
The shuttle bounces over a curb and
We sway with the motion
A sea of people
Bathed in afternoon light
Filtered only by the slight tint of the windows
Time flies by
You're almost three
Parents are happy, happy as can be
You look around and start to smile
For this is the life that is worthwhile
The Glow Up Scholarship Submission 2019
As I look back on my younger self,
Elementary school – I was something else.
The principal’s office, you could find me there,
Trying to explain, acting like I cared.
First came humiliatingly loud pink papers that gracefully draped our front apartment door
screaming , “EVICTION NOTICE” every day after school
Then came doors kicked in
A glow up for me was havin’ the realization
Depression was my setback, not my damnation
I don’t think I ever grew up, but I definitely glowed
And realized my sadness belonged in the commode
I remember you well, my Childhood friend.
We played, danced, and sung together.
We were hardly ever apart.
I knew everything about you,
You knew everything about me.
It be like that
You recognize you hear more than you see
That life is fraught with
He said she said
The grass beneath my fingers lilts
Too fragile to hold
Even as my sunshine tilts
Too big but not too old
The world is a bath of colors
Pressed against my breast
The pretty shades of others
sitting
thinking about who i was, i laugh
mostly ammusmed, slightly shamed.
sometimes i wish
i knew what i know now
but to learn and experience is half the game
the other half is trying to stay sane
When I was a child I tried to live in a dome,
I couldn’t fathom the convoluted questions of life,
I placed myself inside a pretty pink bubble,
Where only happiness, peace, and butterflies live,
Every year through the mist and Mao-tai
the men rasp in hooded sinister tongues.
The lazy Susan slows, a reprimand.
Eyes lingering, quiet breaths still in lungs.
Starting University
My future filled with uncertainty
High hopes for my engineering courses
I glow and grow when I learn new things
Like navigating new places
I learn to live and mingle making friends
And bonding with new friendly face
Everyone will pay attention to hip new trends
I was in first grade when
Before Christmas break
I lost one of my papers
That the whole class handed in
Except me
I was told I couldn’t leave
Until I found it
I went into panic
Head down in a book,
Hiding my braces,
Fearing they may look,
Always so abrasive.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Head high like a rook,
Not afraid of their gazes,
Have them by the hook,
Past meYou were weakyou could barely speak you were shy and timid and so meekEvery person you met you always had to please You grew up wrapped in your own anxiety They I love you's
I asked my mom why people could'nt get along
She told me the world was pain
For the birds and the bees won't respect each other
although they were told to love
For the skies and seas envied each other
"9-5"
by Julian Crockett
Sometimes Life feels like a drag
I think I’d rather do without
Sometimes everyone’s a nag
I’ve gotta find a way out
I’m not a kid anymore
My school no longer has a playground
That has a slide as long as the hallway to the door
I’m not a kid anymore
Life used to feel like a game.
Fun.
Endless.
Magical.
But the more you learn, the more freedom you receive.
Open.
Endless.
Terrifying.
A cold winter's morning
And there stood I
Facing my future
Eye-to-eye
My rose-colored glasses
Had lenses shattered
My destiny uncertain
My dreams tattered
When I was a kid, I went through my "ugly duckling" phase.
I had big teeth that didn't fit my mouth, but I had so much to say.
My hair was huge!
You couldn't tell me a thing.
I can clearly remember
how I felt waking up on the 25th of September.
A juxtaposed meloncholy
for a day that was supposed to be happy.
Eighteen
I had been waiting
to feel a sudden changing
I am stuck in the age that you love to mock,
but it wasn't my fault I couldn't stop the clock.
Two thick braids have unraveled into soft curls,
grinning crooked teeth turned to bright whitened pearls.
When Did I Grow Up
You say, “I can’t believe how much you’ve grown up!” “When did you get so big?”
“Are you going to college?” “What major are you interested in?”
It’s a power
Of comprehension
The lowly feeling of age.
Getting old is a line
A line of steady discovery
First, it’s the listening
Then it’s the babbling
Then it’s the screaming
Arched and twisted—a feeling I still can’t describe,
I lay there salt-soaked and helpless
Seeking for a place to hide.
My name lingers on my teachers’ tongue:
She will never succeed
I don’t remember my face looking that way;
I don’t remember my eyes shining so bright;
I don’t remember my smile being so stunning
Or my face being so bright.
I don’t remember my face looking that way;
I don’t remember my eyes shining so bright;
I don’t remember my smile being so stunning
Or my face being so bright.
We all have a story,
Be it painful, joyful, or forgotten.
We all had dreams of our futures,
And they were probably discarded.
We grew up, some of us too fast,
Our bones rot and decay
But not yet for me.
As I grow older,
I consider my mortality.
Time goes by and we don't care to acknowledge.
Too busy trying to grow up
And ship ourselves of to college,
A gold mirror always hung on my wall,
I've never seem to think of it at all.
It was there when I lost my first tooth,
to the years of my bloom of youth.
As the years past
And went by fast,
Age 3: You're like a tomato.
Age 7: Chubby and eager and adorable
Age 10: Sleep alone. There are no monsters.
Age 13: Please just do it.
Age 14: Bye.
Age 15: Nice to see you! We broke it! Do you trust me?
She was just a little girl
Not a care in the world
Swinging on her swing of memories
Wind through hair
Sun kissing her skin
Never thought this feeling would end
Now shes 19
She was just a little girl
Not a care in the world
Swinging on her swing of memories
Wind through hair
Sun kissing her skin
Never thought this feeling would end
Now shes 19
She was just a little girl
Not a care in the world
Swinging on her swing of memories
Wind through hair
Sun kissing her skin
Never thought this feeling would end
Now shes 19
Post it. Proof.
Let everyone know.
Im not who I used to be.
It is not there if it is not shown.
Did everyone see?
How I have grown?
The smiles, the success, the glee?
Hello? Did you know?
Take a breath,
pause.
Step back,
pause.
Am I okay?
Sit at home wondering why,
my body isn't like theirs.
My voice isn't like theirs.
It's like the world is,
