sticks and stones

High school is hell when you're different. I know. I was different. As were other kids I knew. Here's our stories, some of them. These take place in the 60s, but things aren't much different now.


STICKS AND STONES
by Tommi Avicolli Mecca
c 2005




all the kids they laughed at/ my dream of being king
for the annual may procession/ listen to the children sing
hoagie nose they called me/ there was no other name
for the boy with the beak y'know/ it was really no game

joey was so clumsy/ always tripping into trees
with thick thick glasses/ he could still barely see
how the girls would laugh at him/ when he tried to ask them out
stood against the wall all night/ as the couples danced about

CHO: couldn't anybody understand/ the words could feed the shame/ not break our bones/ but the pain was all the same

jimmy was so proud of/ the good grades that he got
but he talked so funny/ and he cried a whole lot
he walked like a girl and/ soon he learned to hide
from the names they called him/ that cut him deep inside

the fat boy in religion class/ he knew it all so well
god only looked out for / those who didn't tell
daily taunts and teasing/ always made him cry
rat poisoning one night/ y'know it simply made him die

CHO:

I don't go to that school no more/ I'm in my middle age
still sometimes I feel it/ that unrelenting rage
hard to let him go sometimes/ the boy I used to be
always so worried they'd be/ laughing at me

Category:

Music

Tags:

• bullying
• gay and lesbian
• high school
• antigay harassment
• antigay violence
• it gets better
• bullies
• school bullies
• school bullying
• growing up gay
• antigay bullying
• homophobic bullying

[operationshine]

I love this, Tommi! :) Good job. Is this you singing? Because it sounds great.