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Open Poetry #47
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Still Have Some Things To Say
| Open Poetry #47 |
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Still Have Some Things To Say |
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JerryPat2 Member Laureate
since 2011-02-06
Posts 16975South Louisiana 
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the saints whispered and giggled as I slid down the birth canal they outright laughed as I tried to walk this one's going to be trouble, they hooted small town America should be outlawed, burnt to the ground too much pettiness going around making people's faces all pinched-looking where bruises show and the laughter hurts and everybody knows who is hurting who strangers who wander through town deemed suspicious though the town's citizens are stranger still from earliest memory kept trying to prove myself can't remember what I was trying to prove but I'm still trying today sad if you give it some thought Norman Rockwell setting white picket fences sign coming into town The Friendliest People in The World that just wasn't true not from my vantage point where nothing I did was ever good enough it was enough to give a kid complexes never mind the beatings my town was like an on-going play everybody knew their lines nobody spoke out of turn except me I could hear the saints saying see, we knew it, the boy is trouble the play must go on but I was never able to say my lines because they were lies hypocritical lies my town of misfits wife beaters husband cuckolding killers-in-training Louisiana Prison System executed one of them the rest stayed hid in the church mothers doing their sons bragging about how big he was small town America shams I left when I was old enough too late things that had happened were so embedded inside my psyche caused me to walk on a slant when everyone else walked straight wallowed in America's gutter desperation with women worse off than me supped tea with society ladies courtesy of my sexual expertise in New Orleans once caught sight of a man staring in a store window looked familiar had the kind of look on his face I'd have ran from meeting on a dark street I moved to leave so did he I sat down on the curb realized that man was me ~ Plastic surgeons are always making mountains out of molehills. ~ [This message has been edited by JerryPat2 (05-18-2011 11:02 PM).] |
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| © Copyright 2011 Jerry Pat Bolton - All Rights Reserved | |||
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Lori Grosser Rhoden Member Patricius
since 2009-10-10
Posts 10202Fair to middlin' of nowhere |
Bravo! Standing ovation! Best expose to date. Well done Jerry, my friend. Lori |
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JerryPat2 Member Laureate
since 2011-02-06
Posts 16975South Louisiana |
Lori. Thank you very much. This one was tough to write. Tougher to post. ~ Plastic surgeons are always making mountains out of molehills. ~ |
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Margherita Member Seraphic
since 2003-02-08
Posts 22236Eternity |
I think, dear Jerry, that those Angels/Saints who giggled at your birth are still around you and they have accompanied you through all of this life, where you have shown that it is possible to grow out of such difficult situations (to put it mildly). You have written an exceptional poem and this life story imprints itself powerfully on the reader's mind. You have fought many a battle and you have won them. And the Angels smile again and say "we knew he would"! You have all my appreciation. Love, Margherita |
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JerryPat2 Member Laureate
since 2011-02-06
Posts 16975South Louisiana |
Appreciate it Margherita. I think you're correct, I have had to have angels hovering nearby to save me from any number of problems. ~ Plastic surgeons are always making mountains out of molehills. ~ |
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Klassy Lassy Member Elite
since 2005-06-28
Posts 2187Oregon |
Small town America doesn't leave room for hiding. People do know everybody's business, and it seems like there is a bar on every corner. When I first moved to this small town, there were six within the same two blocks. The numbers are less now, but only because there are two casinos in the area, and some went out of business. I am particularly awed by the harshness and tolerance for abuse where you grew up, but I see the young people here looking for love in all the wrong places, yet. You have written a real eye-opener and it takes a lot of strength to survive an environment like that. The need for angels does not lessen..... Some powerful writing here, Jerry. |
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JerryPat2 Member Laureate
since 2011-02-06
Posts 16975South Louisiana |
Klassy Lassy, Thanks for the comments. I grew up in the Eisenhower fifties small town. Nothing was said aloud about anything. No, they were merely whispered over backyard clotheslines and telephone, which were third party phones in those days. You never knew when someone was listening to your conversation. I didn't survive it all that well. I ran and ran and ran, until I ran out of places to run. I caused much pain and anguish during those years of trying to locate myself. My relationship with my mother was such that although it didn't turn me against women, it DID make me a very difficult person to deal with. Okay. I've said more than I started out saying. but it's there now. thanks again. ~ Plastic surgeons are always making mountains out of molehills. ~ [This message has been edited by JerryPat2 (05-19-2011 11:13 AM).] |
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Klassy Lassy Member Elite
since 2005-06-28
Posts 2187Oregon |
Growing up was very harsh for some in those times, and it does color emotions. I was child then, too, and remember President Eisenhower coming through my town in a motorcade when I was about eight years old. He's the only President I ever saw in person. I am glad you looked for yourself, and can relate to the continued intropsection, too. As I've grown older, I realize that my perceptions influence my experience a great deal, but the learning continues and I'm grateful for those who share their experiences with me. Thank you. |
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