Mocked

Can you beleive

how they mock me

for the way that I speak?

“Logan uses big words now.”

There’s nothing so

beautifully individual

as one’s pattern of speech,

the path to self-expression,

the words that hang on your lips,

whispering to the listener

the secrets about who you are

and where you’ve been.

It’s ok if I’m sad,

but weird if I’m morose or sullen.

It’s normal if I’m happy

but too much if I’m euphoric.

I won’t reduce my language

just so that you like the sound if it.

 

(I don’t, and would not, hurl insults at another’s self-expression, and I won’t carry shame — or ignominy, if you don’t mind — for mine.)