Learning early

To fold myself

To something smaller

Hiding my feelings

In the quiet corners

In my chest

So they didn't 

Call me too much

Holding back tears

I wanted to shed

Put into words

Rolling back and forth

Trying to be held together

Even i could hold it together

They misread my resistance

For difference

My silence

For calm

On the inside 

its a storm 

Compressed in a bottle

A wildfire

Contained by peer will

Spending years

Unlearning what i learned

Of disappearing

Showing my hands 

To teaching my hands

To reach

My voice rising

Im done 

Holding back

Im done 

Being held in

– E. J.