Two Poems by Angela Acosta

These two poems by Angela Acosta reflect on youth and identity for a twenty something still growing up. She hopes that others will reminisce on their travels and growing pains as a young adult going through a second adolescence…

by: Angela Acosta

Second Adolescence

I thought I was coming into myself as a teen,
had high school figured out, 
on track to lead the academic bowl team.
Funny how old you feel in your second decade of life.

Pimples started gracing my face by age 21,
and just when I had college figured out,
I hit real life and the next stage of growing up
none of us realized existed.

I looked so young, back at home in Florida,
when actors playing teens on TV are now my age,
a decade older than their fictional counterparts.

The class of 2017 is running for congress,
with youthful faces and determination,
we’re in grad school, starting families,
doing none of the above, or just chilling. 

I’m confident again, have some degrees,
stamps on a passport and something
real adults call life experience.

I’ve always had a strong sense of self,
it just took finding the right words,
the right people, the right foods and cultures
to land upright again, living my fullest
second adolescence. 

El Escorial 

Some sojourn to El Escorial 
for the voluminous cathedral,
its large dome overlooking a modest town
as monastic life chants the beginning of a new day.

The city is quiet, almost contemplative,
a used bookstore beckons visitors with old tomes.
The small market lined with shops and murals
become the perfect place to grab a picnic lunch.

I almost fell to my knees,
not in holy devotion but to the ground all the same,
the dry rusty soil heated by bright sun rays
that carefully nurtures rows of coniferous trees.

I thought I would admire this place
because it takes me back to my Spanish ancestry,
but instead the oak trees root me to life
in this magnificent place, my ideal biome. 

Angela Acosta (she/her) is a bilingual Latina poet and scholar from Florida. She won the 2015 Rhina P. Espaillat Award from West Chester University and her work has appeared in Panochazine, Pluma, Toyon Literary Magazine, and Latinx Audio Lit Mag.