Regrets | Teen Ink

Regrets

April 25, 2018
By Celia Buell SILVER, Skokie, Illinois
Celia Buell SILVER, Skokie, Illinois
7 articles 3 photos 24 comments

In fourth grade, we had to do a project
About “weird laws” across the United States
I picked that men couldn’t wear dresses in Alabama
I thought it was funny

Little did I know that it was an anti-gay law
Because of who I am I still reflect on it today
I didn’t know then what I know now but I wish
I didn’t insult a culture for a laugh

Years later I was fourteen at summer camp
There was a mean girl in another group, in a description
I said “she looks like you” about my friend because I didn’t
Want to say the word “black”
It was probably more offensive to compare my friend
To this girl than it would have to just say
An adjective about skin color

So maybe this is why I write
To rid myself of the regrets I’ve gathered
Through the years of simply being myself

And maybe the only reason I perform
Is so that eleven-year-old girls beg for more
And I can improve someone’s life
They won’t have my same regrets
The ones I’ve thrown onto paper so they can discover
My sins and know not to recreate them


The author's comments:

I remember things and reflect on them, down to almost every action. The two instances mentioned in this poem are examples of things I wish I'd done differently and with more thought, instead of the way I did them.

The last part of the poem refers to my camp for childhood cancer survivors, where I will often perform poetry that people love. At one of my most recent experiences, I was hanging out with some of the younger girls and they kept asking if I had more to share. It was very gratifying. When I got back from camp, I wrote this piece.

 

Written October, 2017


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This article has 2 comments.


on Apr. 30 2018 at 9:18 pm
Celia Buell SILVER, Skokie, Illinois
7 articles 3 photos 24 comments
Thank you @WolfWhisperer0911

on Apr. 29 2018 at 6:53 pm
WolfWhisperer0911 BRONZE, Austin, Texas
1 article 0 photos 623 comments
@celia-unicorn Nice! I can feel the emotions and you should keep writing!