Teen Troubles

You're expected to be an adult

yet are treated as a child

you must be prim and proper

but refrain from being wild

It's expected of you to know your future

to be calm and ambitious

it's not okay to be uncertain

or to be vicious

It's required of you to be perfect

it's treacherous for you to make a mistake

you must always be pushing forward

and leave only success in your wake

You're expected to conform to society

and play the leading part

but you're never allowed to show

how the world is breaking your heart

Reviews

[FoundInThought]

I'm getting further from my teen years but every time I write, I am reminded of the stresses I felt then that I don't feel as keenly now. High expectations are a coming of age thing and in the end are only meant to prepare you.

I write in rhymes most of the time and I enjoy the cadence of a good poem. I think that all poets tend to have a way they read their poems to themselves and no amount of punctuation or changes is going to assist others in reading it as it was imagined. In your 2nd stanza, I read it with a large pause before the last line and it felt like an emotional response where you were admonished at some point for lashing out at your situation and were writing that line with that memory in mind.

I enjoyed it very much. Thank you.

[emipoemi]

A poem that rings with many truths. I feel every word (and still feel it even though my teen years are in the recent past). If I may be so bold as to point out a couple of things: Stanza 2 sounds a bit off in musicality (I read it a few times, tried to figure out how to read it, but it only sounded relatively good once, and although that's normally enough for it to work, the relatively consistent musicality of the other three stanzas reads much better, and Stanza 2 should do the same). On that note, Stanza 3 Line 3 and Stanza 4 Line 2 need an additional syllable (or two) for the musicality to be able to flow seamlessly along. With the latter it's as simple as turning "lead" into "leading" and the former, it's simply: "...always BE pushING forward". Not only does the musicality flow better in both cases, but the lines themselves are given more power (with the former in particular - it now suggests a constant active motion rather than a stagnant active one.....don't know if I'm clear in my explanation). All in all, simply well done! Much enjoyed this!