“sticks & stones may break my bones
but words will never hurt me.”
to the man who stopped in his tracks,
turned around and walked up to me said,
“you are disgusting!”
i ran down the stairs to the train to get away from you but i met another man with a different word but the same stare so i kept on running back to my childhood
where i learned that if you
repeat a lie over and over again
at some point the familiarity
makes you begin to think it’s true
“sticks & stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.”
thank you, stranger on the street
for teaching me the difference between familiar and true
how foolish i was to think it was true,
your word versus my body
your world versus my [ ]
who wins?
sticks & stones may break
my bones but words will disappear them
will make you believe it never happened
will write a story about an incident on 14 street
that everyone saw and no one saw at the same time
what happened to him/her/them/it?
(too ambitious)
what was him/her/them/it?
why couldn’t “he” have worn shorts instead?
why couldn’t “he” have kept that at home?
why couldn’t “he” have loved “himself” harder?
believed in “himself” more? held “his” head high?
envy the stick.
envy the stone.
envy the proof.
how can we win when they control the word?
(too ambitious)
how can we live when they control the word?
(too ambitious)
how can we exist when they control the word?
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