Breaking Free. Poem about stereotype.

Disclaimer: I wrote this poem during and after my Native American Study lecture/class. I felt really inspired by my Prof.'s story, and as a result I used his words to write a mediocre, at least in my point of view, poem. Also, I sent this poem to my TA. Oh, and if you read this, then feel special because I let you inside my head. Lately, I haven't let anyone read any of my poems.



This is the list of words and phrases I randomly chose when Prof. Crum was telling the class about his father and the topic of stereotype on January 20, 2009:



Images, years and years, acres of lands, introvert, shell, day in, day out, people making comments, tolerate, losing cool, culture, magical, break free, away, far enough, distance, home, entertaining, homeless, uncomfortable, myself, borrowing, smoke, engines on fire, mystical, don’t care, gone, too hard, deny of existence, reasons, sky, history, justice.



Some words are not used the exact way Prof. Crum used them, but they still mean the same thing. I can’t explain it, but I think you’ll get what I am saying. Enjoy!


After years and years of living an introvert life under my shell,
I spread my wings so widely that they reached acres of lands,
Stepping out of my hole feeling mystical and unbreakable,
With my eyes searching for reasons as to why I am opening up (now),
Breaking free from the tolerance I placed myself into,
Tolerance from the unjust comments people made about me,
Biased whispering about my being, my culture, my image,
Finding entertainment from my “homeless, pitiful” life,
Continuously trying to deny my existence, which burned a plethora of my veins,
And not caring that as lies about me spread from day in through day out,
My eyes became blinded from the smoke caused by the fire,
Fire growing faster and stronger on my own engine,
Borrowing oxygen and power from the words entering my ears,
Ears that have had enough and can no longer handle what they hear,
Tolerance, a word that doesn’t belong in my mind or my life anymore,
They have gone too far, so far that I’ve lost my cool,
The ice I’ve wrapped around my shell have broken into miniscule pieces,
Pieces that melted by the fire that is growing stronger as each minute passes by,
I am no longer uncomfortable with my brown skin,
I can no longer hide from the world because of them,
I am breaking free, breaking the silence that screamed so loud,
I will no longer slouch down my corner tolerating the injustice,
Injustice that slither throughout the history of this land,
This land that is supposed to be my home, my mother land,
Today, I announce that I am no longer their raged toy,
Because today, I’ve spread my wings and will soar free.


<3Jamie