{"id":967,"date":"2015-09-18T17:01:30","date_gmt":"2015-09-19T00:01:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tomswritings.lewczyk.net\/?p=967"},"modified":"2021-06-06T11:47:00","modified_gmt":"2021-06-06T18:47:00","slug":"once-new-xx-line-poem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/lewczyk.net\/tomswritings\/?p=967","title":{"rendered":"Once [New] (64 line poem)"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s been a while since my last posting — mostly because I’ve been working on this. This is the longest poem I’ve ever written (it’s really nine smaller poems) and it was somewhat arduous to complete. But I’m happy with the result.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Once I was abandoned in a nursing home
\nTrapped in a failing body
\nSurrounded by confusion and fear
\nLiving my days
\nMemories fading
\nThose around me dying, one by one
\nNumbly waiting for the end<\/p>\n

Once I was lonely and alone on the playground
\nEach day — excluded, friendless
\nActing busy doing nothing
\nPraying for the bell to call us back to class
\nKnowing that the teacher, at least
\nPretended we were all equal<\/p>\n

Once and again, I was beaten, abused
\nCovering up, making excuses:
\nJust a bad day. He’s not really like that.
\nIt will get better. Maybe if I try harder.
\nStay together for the children.
\nUntil the day it goes too far<\/p>\n

Once I was waiting for the train
\nFeeling powerless, unloved
\nCertain no one cared
\nThe present unbearable, the future worse
\nFinding no point in living
\nThe train approaches and I take that final step<\/p>\n

Once I lived poor in an undeveloped country
\nIgnored by an ineffective and corrupt government
\nWatching disease take my children
\nTalk of a better life — just so much empty air
\nStretching what little food I could get
\nBeyond hope
\nSimply existing<\/p>\n

Once I didn’t fit someone else’s definition of normal
\nMy hair, my clothes
\nMy sexuality
\nUnthreatening, but threatened for being different
\nBrave, but so exposed, so afraid
\nIf it were a choice, I would choose the easier path
\nI can’t change who I am<\/p>\n

Once I was looking for a job, a way out
\nBut opportunities were unavailable
\nBecause of my race, my gender
\nThose who mistakenly believe
\nThat minorities ‘get all the breaks’
\nWill never understand
\nThe impossibly tall mountain
\nThat we view from the bottom<\/p>\n

Once I was slowly dying
\nFading away
\nWhispers in the hall
\nMy family full of tears, but already moving on
\nMy friends avoiding me \u2014 not knowing what to say
\nLiving my remaining days like a ghost
\nWith one word on my lips \u2014
\nUnfair!<\/p>\n

Once I lived on the streets of a large city
\nCold, tired, hungry
\nSleeping on cardboard, digging through garbage
\nNot fully sure how I got here
\nPeople pass
\nTo them I’m nothing
\nBut I know how small and easy the step is
\nFrom their lives
\nTo mine<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s been a while since my last posting — mostly because I’ve been working on this. This is the longest poem I’ve ever written (it’s really nine smaller poems) and it was somewhat arduous to complete. But I’m happy with the result. Once I was abandoned in a nursing home Trapped in a failing body Surrounded by … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Once [New] (64 line poem)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/lewczyk.net\/tomswritings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/lewczyk.net\/tomswritings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/lewczyk.net\/tomswritings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lewczyk.net\/tomswritings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lewczyk.net\/tomswritings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=967"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/lewczyk.net\/tomswritings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1697,"href":"http:\/\/lewczyk.net\/tomswritings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967\/revisions\/1697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/lewczyk.net\/tomswritings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lewczyk.net\/tomswritings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lewczyk.net\/tomswritings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}