If I tell someone to fuck off I’m breaking character. What? You just want me to let shit hit the fan? Just stand there? I live with a family that paraphrases Leviticus 18:22 and Leviticus 20:13. They say homosexuality is a sin. Doesn’t the bible say love everybody? What’s that supposed to mean? I smell a lot of hypocrisy. I just want to live my life as a teen. Do things that are dumb and fun—but no, I got these views inside my head. I am going insane. I just want to stand out. I just want to dye my hair, but I’m scared of all the other Christian kids. I’m pansexual and I’m happy for the first time. There are so many things I want to do. I feel like I’m on a time limit. I play games to escape reality and these hypocrites call me addicted. Welcome to my strict reality.
Yadiel Mercado
I'm a 14-year-old pansexual afro-latino writer. I've only been writing for a couple of months but I know writing is a passion of mine Because it comes naturally. I put all my thoughts and feelings into what I write which is really rare because I bottle up all my feelings and now writing is something that I really enjoy doing and even though I've been only been writing for a short period of time. It's like a coping skill like music and both of those go hand in hand like peanut butter and jelly.
About Twelve Literary Arts: Twelve Literary Arts is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) literary arts and education organization founded by Executive Artistic Director Daniel Gray-Kontar in 2016. The organization provides literary arts instruction and leadership development to elementary and high school-aged youth while offering an expanded slate of programming to adult poets, writers, and storytellers.
Working in collaboration with other community and arts organizations, Twelve Literary Arts has played a key role in making poetry more accessible to new audiences, developing a cadre of young talent committed to writing in and about Cleveland, and contributing to the local dialogue about the arts and social transformation.
