Individual: A Poem Celebrating a Teen’s Inspiring Journey to Self-Identity

Individual

i don’t owe you anything

i don’t owe you my light in your darkness
i don’t owe you the smile that dances above 
my chin just beneath the tip of my nose

i don’t owe you the breath from my lungs
i don’t owe you the laughter in my soul

the fire in my eyes
the beat of my heart

you don’t get to have me at my best when 
you discarded me at my worst

my heart is not your playground
my feelings are not your playthings
my tears are not your swimming pools

and
my mouth is not your garden
my body is not you forest
my fingertips are not your branches

i don’t hold root in this world
but one of a higher calling
i’m a seed sown in rich soil

i'm an individual immersed in my own self

Read more poems by Sasha Davis in the Kindle preview below or grab your copy of The Flaws in Our Teen.