Embarrassing: What parents want to say to their teenagers but can't

02/12/2020 - Poem a Day Compilation



Oh, my god, mum

You’re so embarrassing.

How are we even related?

Can you just … not?



        All I did was turn up.

        You’d think the world ended

        Because you happen to be seen

        In public, with your mother!



What are you wearing?

You look like a grandma.

Why can’t you wear something

A little more fashionable?



        Of course, you know, don’t you,

        That if I turned up in anything

        That was even remotely fashionable

        You’d think I was trying too hard.



Do you have to talk so loudly?

Everyone can hear you

And then they look!

I don’t want them thinking it’s me.



        I don’t know if you've noticed 

        But when you get with your girlfriends

        You could fly a jet overhead

        And no one would be able to hear it.



I don’t want a hug and a kiss,

I’m not a little kid anymore.

No one else’s parents do that

It’s just weird and awkward.



        You’re such a long time an adult

        And you’ll have to forgive me

        But I wish you weren’t in such a rush

        To grow up and enjoyed childhood.



Don’t talk to my friends.

They don’t care what music you’re into

Or whether you watched a movie

Or where you went last weekend.



        I have amazing taste in music

        You’d be very surprised

        By what your friends listen to,

        Especially Janie, she likes metal.



Why can’t you look like Johnny’s mum?

She looks amazing.

I bet she doesn’t eat ice cream and chocolate

All the time like you do.



        No, she probably doesn’t

        But I don’t drink like a fish

        Like she does, either,

        And I rather be overweight, to be fair.



You’re too old to be dating.

Jessica’s mum is on her own

And she doesn’t run around

Like she’s trying to be a teenager.



        Jessica’s mum has just gotten a divorce

        From an abusive husband

        Whereas I have been on my own

        Most of your very short life.



You never let me do anything fun,

Like that concert I went to

And you made me come straight home

When everyone else was going out after.



        Friday night in the middle of the city

        Is no place for a fourteen year old

        And I will always do what is needed

        To keep you as safe as I can.



Why don’t you listen to me?

You’re so embarrassing

I just want you to be normal

Like everyone else’s mum.



        If I told you half the things, my sweet,

        About the other mums you know

        You would be horrified

        But we’re all just doing the best we can.

A Letter to Myself

30/11/2020 – Poem a Day Compilation



If I wrote a letter to myself

From me as I am now

With all the knowledge that 40 years brings

To my teenage self

Who thought they knew it all

And probably wouldn’t listen

It would go something like this:



Say yes more often when you’re young

But not so much when you’re older

Opportunities should be grabbed by the horns

But as we get older, time becomes precious

And knowing what will bring you joy

And what will bore you to death

Is a wonderful skill to have.



Don’t worry about what people think of you

Because most of those people won’t matter

Not in five years’ time, nor in fifty years’ time

So, choose wisely whose put downs you hear

Take the insults with a smile

And be gracious in victory

Because everyone battles their demons differently.



Follow your dreams wherever they may go

And don’t let anyone try to pigeonhole you

Into being someone or something you’re not

Because you’re a long time an adult

And doing something you don’t want to do

Just to pay the bills

Is hard slog until retirement.



Find your people

The ones who make you shine

From the inside out

And who share your excitement

Even if they don’t understand it

Because having someone there

Who offers that is magic.



Don’t let the excuses you make for yourself

Tie you down or hold you back

When you know what you’re capable of

When the world is your oyster

And when it’s your own voice betraying you

Because you could be great

If only you let yourself try.

Rumours

18/10/2020 - Poem a Day Compilation



There wasn’t much to the story

We were on a camp with school

It rained and rained and rained some more

The paddock looked more like a pool.



We couldn’t pitch a tent out that night

The only dry place was a shed

It had been used as a feed store

And the hay loft became our bed



The boys all slept in their tents

That they put up on the dry floor

While the teachers and we girls

Were high above the snore



We piled all the bags between us

Like the great wall of china

It was a masterpiece of engineering

You would not find any finer



The next day the sun came out to play

And we hiked up the mountain higher

Where we could camp outside

And we could even light a fire



One by one the students took to bed

In their tents and sleeping bags

One last night away from home

And parents with constant nags



It must have been getting late

When I realized we were alone

Just myself and two teachers

And the conversation took a different tone



It was as if they forgot I was a student

And they talked about normal things

Like what they were doing on the weekend

Or how much they liked chicken wings



I took myself off to the tent

I was sharing with the other girls

And I was asked such questions

That would make you clutch your pearls



The rumours that they started

Were ridiculously untrue

They were simply causing trouble

For someone with friends too few



But it wasn’t just me they hurt

With their words and their lies

The teachers caught up in it all

Could not escape the fictitious ties



It spread on the bus trip home

From students to parents and more

The principal heard the gossip

And it was something he could not ignore



We had to give a full account

Of every moment we were together

It tore me apart inside

And my sanity hung by a tether

The principal knew we’d done nothing wrong

But the scandal had reached the press

The teachers were stood down from their roles

For a lie and nothing less



I was an outcast amongst my peers

And the rumours grew from time to time

While I shrank inside myself

Though I had committed no crime



The school year ended without fan fair

And I retreated to the shadows

Never to see those girls again

Their jealousy had caused such vicious blows



But what they did lingers on

And haunts me to this day

I still blame myself for not seeing

That they could act that way



Their petty lies destroyed my faith

That people could ever be trusted

And the lives of the teachers they slandered

Were irrevocably busted

Lunchtime

22/09/2020 -  Poem A Day Compilation



She sat on her own at first.

A whole bench,

A whole table

All to herself.



Then there was no one near.

Not at the next bench,

The next table,

No one close.



At first, she didn’t notice the quiet.

It was peaceful,

And unburdened

By the petty squabbles.



But after a while it was silent.

An uneasy stillness,

A pained disquiet

Clung in the air.



And so, it continued each day.

Branded an outcast

Shunned by her peers

And alone in the world.