It's Not Beneath Me by Laurel Ruff



I think holding this summer inside hasn’t done me any good
because now all I do is lust for sunshine
and hell, to me, is watching him play the cello forever,
your hand on his shoulder.
I blame you, for my being only half of that.
Come home and watch me
eat the leaves with my hands.
When you tell me you're proud, I’ll try to believe it.
I’m sorry I can’t have half more than the mind I was born with,
I’m sorry that when I shake the tree, nothing falls,
but why do you expect me to follow table manners you never taught?


Laurel Ruff is a senior at Woodford County High School in Kentucky. 
If her three years at Ironwood have taught her anything, it’s that the indomitable human spirit can be expressed remarkably by a group of undiscovered mythical beasts masquerading as teenagers.


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