This is for the Kids

All my life I have been told by an unwaking

fear that perhaps growing up and stretching

out my limbs with these years is worth it. 

and to the adults who tell me in response 

to my passion for art: "and what are you going to do with that?" 

I want to scream at you with a force so violently

that you remember what it's like-

to have a dream. 

You reached up for the stars. You had hope. 

You outspoke the realms of self- denial

and yet you deny the spark in my eyes 

as I tell you I love art and music. 

The cadence of my heart will never subside with

perfected brushstrokes and steal canvases.

and adults are the reason for this. 

YOU are the reason why I so fully believe in

doing what I love. 

So this is for the kids. 

This is for the kids who read menus the wrong way

and even if adults know what menus actually say,

there is beauty in hearing what they don't.

This is for the kids with untied shoelaces

because the playground is more important than looking good. 

This is for the kids who get messy with spaghetti stains because it's funny.

This is for the kids with plastic rings and broken toys because 

that's all you could aford for the one you loved and they still smiled. 

This is for the kids who get sick just by playing in the snow

because what if it melts the next day? 

This is for the kids stuffed animals that are stiched with love and probably

have more diseases than most of the world. 

This is for the kids who play with cars.

This is for the kids who play with barbies. 

This is for the kids who cut their hair with emphasis and care.

Even if your parents don't like it but your friends do,

because when you're a kid, your friends accept you, for you. 

This is for the kids who play tag with uncontrollable laughter after dark.

This is for the kids with trash cans for drums and carboard boxes for guitars. 

This is for the kids with a bad past. 

This is for the kids with casts, and maps that leads to nowhere.

We were all kids. So I ask this,

What changed our flame of resilience

against things that didn't make sense?

This is for the kids who are convinced that grades define them

but they havn't climbed to the other side of education. 

Education is a misinterpreted entity that consumes people.

Grades are not the enterprise of knowledge, learning is. 

If you don't have the curiosity then clearly the subject is not for you.

Adults, don't tell me what to do.

So this is for the kids who get F's in math and A in art. 

I have known this from the start. 

I will never be a mathematician, this is my decision, don't disrupt my vision. 

Life is a waste of time never doing what you love,

and when you were kids you put on gloves

to protect you from the rough edges of society 

but you took them off 

when you thought seeing clearly meant you had to mask your passions to make a living. 

Adults- this isn't the route to protect the house of your heart

if all you ever see are worn faces and empty spaces.

And I'm sorry for judging too quickly,

but the world you have made for me,

isn't all it's cracked up to be...

with lack of belief and loss of dreaming. 

So this is what I'm going to do with art and music,

I will inspire and I will teach

the parts of the heart people have yet to reach.