I enter a public place and map all the exits out

There is constantly the thought that I might need an escape route

I heard a firework the other day and was sure it was a bomb

I can’t communicate the fear that I felt through a poem or a song

This is the way that we have all gotten used to living

So my apologies, if your jokes regarding violence don’t leave me feeling very forgiving

Our world, it has made me grow weary

What’s the point in fighting? My eyes, they grow teary

Seems that every day there is another tragedy to the list

Parents losing their children, years of their lives they will miss

People think that American women now have it easy

But my friends and I, we’re afraid to walk alone, you see

For our fear of being raped outweighs our sense of adventure

Can’t go anywhere alone, so instead we go together

I was at a Starbucks today and saw a memorial for a man

Young, happy, I’m sure this was never part of his plan

But he was sadly killed in the Orlando Shooting

My heart breaks for his family, their lives most likely uprooted

And may his soul rest in peace, killed in “the land of the free”

But how can we call it that

When we aren’t even free to love who we please?

You try to say that homophobia is an opinion, but l tell you it is not

Because an opinion has never gotten anyone shot

Homophobia exists, you have no clue what you’re talking about

I write these words after checking the body counts

And don’t get me started on the countless acts of racism

Or how mixed-race couples still face criticism

As if the color of our skin has anything to do with the way that we love

These ignorant thoughts are what we need to dispose of

Women in prison are continuously raped

Thrown in a cell in which there is no escape

Nothing changes, it is the same every day

So then why do we let it stay this way?

We have a voice, let’s use it

And let’s not put men in positions of power if they are only going to abuse it

I just want to reach people through my writing

I just want there to be an end to all of the fighting

But this poem might as well be non-existent

Because people, they never listen

Or the ones who read it will take it the wrong way

Like I am not incredibly thankful to be living here today

They will take this as a diss towards the place that I call my home

When all I want is change; and I am not in that alone

I owe my life to the men and women who died for my freedom

To the ones who kept going, even when they felt defeated

I love America, I know many would kill to be here

But we are not living in America

We are living in Fear

Sara Kulp

Age 16, Grade 10

Tamaqua Area Senior High School

Tamaqua Area School District