It was awhile ago when I raised my hand in my Poetry 101 class and asked if we could bring in our own work and read it to the class for extra credit. (Weird that was something I had to ask isn’t it?) The teacher hesitantly agreed only after the class followed suit in making quite the ruckus for approval. The day came and I risked going up to the podium and reading a love poem I had written – but this isn’t about me. It’s about someone else who got up and took a much larger risk than ridicule.
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The whole class was smiling, laughing and as I remember it, a few people stood up giving a standing ovation to the girl who did what you may think people would have frowned upon. Now, I never curse or swear on this website (though I may let some words slip in life), let it be known that I am merely going to pick out words that were in this young lady’s poem.
Imagine the following words put into one of the most heart wrenching and fluent poetry you have ever heard: “fu#k”, “w@ore”, “s%it”, “c*nt”, “b^tch” and a few others.
The reaction of ecstatic approval from the classroom made me think how happy it makes people to hear and see other people do what most would frown upon. This lady didn’t risk ridicule, she risked isolation, she risked the repercussions of fighting back the status-quo and following her intuition and heart.
To my surprise, she was congratulated for an epic non-standard performance and begged to share more of her poetry. She sat down with the largest grin on her face, larger than a silver Waning Crescent of a moon turned sideways.
Stay Positive & Fight To Be Frowned Upon (You’ll Be Surprised)
Garth E. Beyer
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