Butter and Silk is a visual, poetic representation of how I view the exploration of teenage sexuality—in both a physical and an emotional sense: pleasing, overwhelming, intriguing, wild, quick-paced and slow.

For teenagers, it is normal to feel that adults don’t take your relationship seriously. In fact, youth intimacy is seen as inappropriate far more often than not. It’s uncomfortable to talk about. But why?

In my teen years, I explored this idea. What is it that truly causes this perspective? To explain this, I wrote a poem. It felt personal. I could make it my own—say it my way. Use my experience to write. For me, that is the whole point: the knowledge you gain from the present-day experience, and how that knowledge will shape your future experiences.

What intrigues youth is what isn’t allowed. For a moment, let us stop thinking of it this way. Yes—we should consider the positives and negatives of getting “involved” young. But we should also reevaluate how we are teaching these “positives" and “negatives”. Is it the action, or how the action is handled?

No matter what age, sexuality is abstract and hard to follow. This is true both metaphorically and literally—it can be pleasing, overwhelming, intriguing, wild, beautiful, ugly, quick-paced and slow. But through it all, our experiences enhance what we know of ourselves, as well as what we know about others. I was introduced to the frequent unsteadiness of a relationship, but also to insight that now allow my present-day and future relationships to run as smooth as butter and silk.

We would all do well to remember this, no matter where we stand on the age scale.