Feelings

by Kasey King
(Kents Hill, Maine, USA)

I’m not good
With feelings

I see people laugh and cry
Be angry,
Yet so happy
At the same time.
It confuses me.

When I try to tell somebody
They laugh
And say
When I’m older I’ll understand

I’m older now.
I understand.
I wish I didn’t.
I don’t want to understand.

I don’t want to know
How somebody
Could be so important
That without them
I feel like nothing.

I want to go back.
I want to be a stupid little kid.
Who was naive.
Who didn’t understand feelings.

So you see.
It’s not that
I’m not good with feelings.
It’s that
I felt so much in my life
So I shut everything out.
So I can’t feel anything.