To Just Be

To Just Be

I don’t experience this type of pain first hand

I don’t know what it feels like to be pushed deeper into the dark

Farther into my closet, farther away from the truth

But movies, shows, videos, stories explain the pain some cannot understand.

How do these kids, teens, adults face cruelty about something they hadn’t planned

Why are there people who make these beautiful individuals go stark?

People who are so angry they punish anyone who seems different

People that are trying to make others feel as irrelevant as a grain of sand.

No one deserves to feel like they cannot be themselves

As Ash states there are three rules in life:

Be Authentic. Be Direct. Be Unapologetic.

These rules all point to one thing.

Why does one person feel they are that much better that they can destroy lives

Innocent lives that are now scarred

With cuts and marks that will never heal

Some so extreme that they never got the chance.

There is an opportunity to fight this

It must be stopped

Because no one should be punished for just trying to live out the three rules

To just be.

Car Ride

Three hours go by as we head down south

Hasn’t rained in days but still not a drought

With nothing to do I let my thoughts entertain me

Only problem is that I’m reeeeally really hungry

So we stop at Sheetz

For a few good eatz

To stretch our feetz

And in the process

I checked out some tweetz

After a few minuets though

We got back in our car

And continued the drive the seemed farther than far

It got really dark, which is kind of bummer

So I closed my eyes and took a quick slumber

Another hour passed and we are still not there

But I really don’t care

Or dare to ask one more time

“Where are we?”

So I keep my mouth shut and let it be

Like the Beatles back in the 70s

Can’t say that I enjoy long car rides

But ill let this one slide

After all, I was able to get some work done

This way I could go out Saturday night and have some fun

Get Over It-the unprompted poem about societal norms

There are some or a lot of things you can’t just get over

There are a lot of wounds that take longer to heal

Than the standard six weeks

So why do we feel so weak

When we need to ask for help?

 

It’s because our society sticks a bandaid over addiction

To cover up the mess

And feeds a cocktail of pills to the mentally ill

So they’ll quit their whining

 

And they just “get over it”

Right?

 

But what about when that bandaid gets torn off

From being picked at too much

Or the pills don’t work the way the said

And just make you feel a different kind of crazy

 

Or even after the standard six weeks

I’m afraid of falling down again

And becoming one with the kitchen tiles

I fear my teeth falling out

Like that reoccurring nightmare that means your life is a mess

But I did my time, so I’m fine.

I Don't Waste Food

I used to be able to sit cross-legged when I was 5

I would curl up into a little ball

Most likely because I was 4 feet tall

And my body could bend in all sorts of ways

And bruises and scraps would magically go away

Like the problems we faced on a regular day

Of school

Kindergarten was where we used to rule

But 11 years later and my mind is all torn

I’ve got people to see and work to do

And a laundry list of things to get done

Some days it’s likely I don’t see the sun

Cuz I’m crammed in my room suffering from work

And I complain to my father

That it’s senior year and I should be out.

We all have hard.

And that’s all I really have to worry about.

But you see

Its my complaining and maintaining which

Makes me realize what I’m saying

And how my words actually sound

To the people I see around

The ones who struggle and fight for food every night

And those who are forced to find the hardest ways

To get any sort of pay

We all have hard.

But I see

More than the average rich white American.

Because I see

The opportunities given to me

My parents always told me “Don’t waste that food on your plate”

Because food was a gift but I was too cross-legged to see that.

It’s the gifts I’ve been given that I need to make a living

Not for me

But make a living to better someone.

Life is about relationships

And I need to make them meaningful

There’s no major in college for the collage I’ll major in

Relationships with people of different backgrounds I’ll savior it

Helping people finding jobs to raise their kids who do nothing but sit

Around and wait for someone to educate their minds that haven’t been lit

Because I complain and maintain your average GPA

But I’ll gladly try to fix problems of the world without seeing day

Because sometimes that cross-legged kid curled up inside you like a little ball

Feels forced to change the ones who struggle into the ones

Who can tell their dad it’s their senior year

And that their family no longer has something to fear

Because they will get an education and a job

That can keep this family alive and away from the mob

And they thank their parents for the opportunities they were given

They will live well while wilding living.

My body used to bend in all sorts of ways

Now it’s sore and rigid and I must stretch to play

But my mind which was once so torn at 16

Is now bending in directions and I’ve got a new view

And it starts with the relationship of me and my food

The Underdog

Because I said so

He yells as the door slams in my face

The whipping wind blows through me

As I stand facing the place

That I call home

In a square of light I see my mother

The gravitational pull of shame

Keeps her eyes fixed to the floor

Father’s not the only one to blame

I fall asleep on a park bench

Listening to the creek of swings

Whispering memories of childhood

The dry crunch of wood-chips brings

Me back to those days

I awake and walk to school

Through the halls I hear the gossip

Kids pointing out my dirt stained clothes

Unaware of my hardship

Frustration builds inside of me

Without a way to make it stop

They circle like vultures on the hunt

I’m on the edge about to drop

Collapse into myself

The tears well up I need to hide

I burst inside a room about to blow

But a solitary student’s in my way

“Get out” I shout, “Because I said so”

Normal Day

I walk down the halls and feel restrained .

“You should be happy!”

“What’s wrong?”

-What isn’t wrong

The expectation to smile at every person I see through the halls

In passing it’s profane to respond to “how are you?” with

-“I’m doing fine”.

Nobody cares enough to hear the truth.

It’s irreverent, it’s offensive it’s improper , its profane…

But shouldn’t you care? Shouldn’t someone care?

I don’t want to be dishonest with you.

So, don’t make me.

Don’t make me create a new character just for you

Don’t make me do this.

Terrell Smith

Leadership

Be a leader

A person who is independent

One who does not follow

A leader is someone who does not succumb to pressures

Some one who doesn’t conform to society

Be yourself

Be your own person

A leader is someone with strength, bravery, compassion,

Hope, and courage

And through it all he is one who stays true to his self

Being a leader is not always the easiest thing to do but

As Robert Frost said take the road less travelled, that has made all the difference