Verbal Filter Glow up

I glow and I grow

everyday

a new way

when I was young

I had no filter

a slip of the tongue

too common

many things just came out

I would make a joke,

evoke laughter and smiles

but I never thought

before I spoke

sometimes my words caused

more harm than good

now I'm more woke

and speaking with a filter

is a bit more familiar

still, sometimes a few things

slip out of my mouth

but it doesn't end up as south

as it used to

it was clear that I had grew

when I was about to say something

just a bit beyond woo-woo

but I stopped myself right there

it's better to keep that inside

I knew

as a kid I really

had no clue

what to do

when crazy ideas came about

that I wanted to share

until one day I learned how to

close my beak

I realized it’s best

to think

before I open my mouth

and speak

without a blink

now I save my weird words, thoughts

and ideas

for poems on paper

where I can edit and tweak

before I let them leak

I knew I was growing up

when having a filter

I was starting to seek

the words came to my mouth

but I kept them in my cheek

to later spill on the paper

before a major mistake

that would make

heads shake

and conversations break

now I’m seventeen, a bit older and wiser

then the days I would speak the words

best left

for poems on paper