If Only I Could Have Said Poem by Glen Martin Fitch

Hey, parents.
Back off.
Thanks, but leave me be.
I've got a mind to stretch and
flex and tone
to challenge speed,
test time, tease gravity.
I've got to do it now
and on my own.
You want to help?
Okay. Hear my demand:
Safe space, all day,
some friends and
open air.
Please trust me.
Let me build
my 'what if' land,
a stage to act out
triumph and despair.
Those hyper ads
would make me beg and
yearn to hoard
the moving, plastic,
painted stuff.
The more each does for me
the less I learn.
For pure imagination
it’s enough to give me
mud or snow and
sticks and rocks.
Return that gadget,
but I need the box.