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Stop

Emily Mickool

July 5, 2018

Department: Poetry

Issue: Storytelling and Narrative

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Stop calling me names

I know you think it’s okay
But “Smart” and “Intelligent”
Are just as bad
As any insult you can conjure

You put pressures on me
And in return
I put pressures on myself

I feel like I’m not enough
That my grade isn’t good
Unless I get an A+
Because you called me names
And you said it was fine
Even though it wasn’t and isn’t and never will be

Because you said those words
I spend hours agonizing
Over things I thought that I didn’t care about

I say “I don’t care about grades”
To give those words less effect

I’m lying
Yet the words still affect me
I wish people would stop

Stop calling me those bad words
They attack me

They attack from the inside
Where my emotions rest
They attack all that I am
Morph into me

And because of you
That is all I think I am

“Smart”

But it’s okay
Because it is a compliment

Right?

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Emily Mickool is 13 years old and from Yarmouth, Maine.