Outside the Box

Lydia Labovitz (she/her)

everyone keeps trying
to squeeze us
into little boxes

they know who we
are, they say. and
they know how our
lives should be lived
​
even when we tell them
"no, i'm not like you.
the life you have dreamed
cannot be the one I
will go on to lead."

we're given new boxes
crammed back in darkness
we're just trading out
one prison for another

squeezed in so
tight, with no
room to live

but then again, 
once we're out of the box
all that's there is the outside

​