Once,
When I was in the 9th grade,
A boy told me I wasn’t “pretty enough” to fit into his group,
Then proceeded to ask my best friend to be his girl friend.
When I was in 9th grade,
I didn’t feel popular enough to be on the student counsel
Even though I had so many ideas to help my school be a better place.
I lost my best friend to a boy who couldn’t keep his hands off her
And his words from pounding into her skull,
Then had the nerve to convince her,
I was the one doing it.

Once,
I was kissed by a boy
who couldn’t get it into his mind that I wouldn’t go out with him
Due to the fact that I was dating someone else.
“But you love me right?”
And no amounts of “No.” would stop him from asking every time.
On my sweet 16
I found nothing sweeter than a necklace of a scarf
That I had attached to my bathroom door
With the catch,
it was still around my neck.

Once,
I met a boy who tried to tell me that love and argueing were the same thing.
I believed him.
And every night that I went to bed crying
I struggled to make sense of this logic,
Until I’d get his apology text the next day.
It wasn’t until talking to him made me exhausted
That I realized
Loving him wasn’t not supposed to make me want to kill myself.

Once,
A girl in my class tried to bring a gun to school
Because maybe if she blew the faces off the other girls,
She’d be the prettiest one around.
The school didn’t think it was a threat until she’d already fired the gun.

Once,
A 14 year old boy tried to bleed the gay right out of him
Because no matter how many straight A’s he got,
He was still never straight enough for his parents.

Once,
Teenagers were tired.
They'd sit on their phones as a distraction,
Because they'd much rather think about a fantasy
Than have an anxiety attack due to a 89% on their math class.

Once,
Their homework was spent on group chats
Because they're expected so much at home,
Or they had to be in a musical to graduate.

Once,
A 5 year old told me,
That sometimes daddy gets angry,
But the marks he leaves are just because he loves me.
Most of those marks aren't just his black and blue tan lines.

Once,
A boy who used to believe in magic and poetry
Got bullied because he should felt lucky someone wanted to bang him so young,
Regardless if it was supposed to be his best friend,
Regardless if they had always had sleep overs.
Regardless if he was in a committed relationship.
Regardless how many times he said stop. 
Regardless how many times she kept kissing him and touching him. 
Regardless,
Regardless,
Regardless,

Once,
A girl too young to understand that we are all human,
Went to a friend who wore a scarf on her head and asked if her parents did 9/11
Because how was she to know that politicians lie?
How was she to know that her parents were scared of things they couldn't see?
When the friend said no,
How was girl supposed to know not to hide,
Because maybe no is the key word for the bomb in they're back pack? 

Once,
A government was founded on the idea that freedom and justice are the basis of human society,
But soon turned into a popularity contest because some people don't know what it's like not to be in high school anymore. 
Because people fail to realize that it doesn't matter if you're an a** or have a long trunk,
What matters is that this country is everything we wanted it to be the second we fired the first shot. 

Once,
Just once I want to say,
Everything was brilliant.
But it's hard to say it's brilliant without comparing it to the brilliant damage of the Atom bomb. 
Just once I'd like to say
Peace,
Without  having to hold up a sign and camp out on the White House steps. 
And just for once,
I’d like to make the world aware.