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The Activist Poem

(from "Queer 101", a theater piece I wrote for HS students. The character, Chad, ends the piece with this poem)

You wanna be an Activist?
Change the World?

Be yourself -- without apology and without shame,
walking hand in hand in public with the one you love
knowing that is a loving act of
Protest.

You want people to change?
Laws to change?
A global trasfromation into a shimmering butterfly society?

Then You must change,
be yourself
be Real

Knowing that the most powerful activists in the world
are those people
who are
unashamedly
Themselves.

Comments

Jennifer said…
Yeah, I want to be an activist and change the world. Too bad I couldn't do it all in a day or so. I want to go to political protests, UN summits, and talk to world leaders. I want to meet "The Hurricane" a.k.a. Rubin "Hurricane" Carter. I want to learn more about innocent people on death row. I want to learn how to keep the air, earth, and water clean so that people don't keep getting cancers from things such as air pollution, fertilizers(?), and other environmental pollutants. I want to learn how to live forever so that I can see how my helping the world changes it in the long run. I want to get arrested for something that I strongly believe in, whether I agree or disagree about the specific issue. I want to do it all. I'm learning some from the wise ancient and modern muses of society. I'm learning how to stand up for something I believe in. I'm taking risks, and learning new things along the way.

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