This Is What You Do Poem by Chanel Jackson

We’ve lived under the same roof
For the past 16 years
But you DON’T KNOW me
You DON’T UNDERSTAND me
You THINK you know what I want
You THINK you know how I feel
But guess what…
You
Have
NO IDEA!
Whenever I try to tell you
What’s inside my head
You push it aside
Like it’s nothing
Useless
It has no meaning
Then you wonder why
I sit in my room and cry
Want to die
You want what’s best for me
So you do what you think is best
When in fact
It does just the OPPOSITE
You’ll finance my dance
But you’re reluctant to watch
My academics are excellent
You’re front row center
Show you my poetry
You glance and shrug
Award winning scholar
You claim it’s in the blood
Cant you see
What you’re doing to me?
Why must you complicate everything?
When all you need to do
Is just talk to me
And LISTEN
ACKNOWLEDGE my opinions
ALLOW me to have opinions
And maybe I’ll actually LEARN
And make my OWN decisions
But until then
I’ll slowly fade
into my inhabitions