“Expression” by Anonymous

I am a grenade ready to explode
through the invisible glass barrier
they keep me in. Whenever I stand
tall , and strong, they always put a
hot hand on my head and shrink
me. Clasping me into the small flower
seed that worked so hard to grow
out of.

This place needs expression, this place
needs to let petals of color unfurl
in the wind and grasp the plain
things that stealthily bore this place.

I try to help. I walk on the gray
cobblestones, letting my feet splatter
paint on them. I try to shine, shine
brighter than the veneer they spread on
wood floors.

But everyone worries. And that
worry blinds them, it blinds them
from seeing past the plainness.
That’s why they shrink me.