I'M Not Why You Would Expect Poem by Silence Dogood

Im not what you would expect.
Im fragile
Unstable
And insecure
But when I'm around you
I feel stronger than ever
Stable
and confident
Like the world is mine
for the taking.
Around you
My heart beats faster
my breath catches in my throat
And I stop thinking
for that one brief little
moment in time
Because I'm different around you
Because it's just you
no one else
no friends
no classmates
no teachers
or parents
no one to judge me
on who I am
who I was
and who I will be.
I can feel beautiful
special
Like I belong.
But that's only around you
not anybody else
So im not what you'd expect
not funny
or sarcastic
no comebacks at the ready
no punch ready to throw
Just a scared little girl
Cowaring on the inside
Of a teenager
who is finding her way
without the support of anyone else
without a boy as her crutch
Im not what you'd expect
because here I stand a fragile
breakable girl
But one who is not quite as
easy
as
you'd
think
to destroy