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