2022-05-18 #writing/poetry #poem-a-day
They used to make fun of me For the way I laughed, My screeching giggle, like a dolphin’s Cry echoing across the hallways,
For my last name, How it rhymed with Change How change was the result of Math And Changs were known for being good at it
For how I was gentle And how strength was prized Among boys pretending to be men, How I refused to push a kid over In basketball for a free ice cream Or shoot a gun of air into a forehead.
To survive I learned To hide my voice and Talk in code, disguising The unwanted in wrappings Of acceptability
I adjusted my laugh’s pitch, killed The dolphin and its echo, fused math With my justification of survival, and Hid kindness under extravagant displays Of falsified strength, an outward courage To be someone they wanted me to be.