{"id":113247,"date":"2022-06-25T17:38:40","date_gmt":"2022-06-25T21:38:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/?p=113247"},"modified":"2022-06-25T17:38:40","modified_gmt":"2022-06-25T21:38:40","slug":"2022-prompt-hour-7-dont-call-me-inspiring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/2022\/06\/2022-prompt-hour-7-dont-call-me-inspiring\/","title":{"rendered":"2022 prompt\/hour 7: \u201cDon\u2019t call me inspiring\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

2022 prompt\/hour 7: \u201cDon\u2019t call me inspiring\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

People sometimes tell me I\u2019m inspiring <\/span><\/p>\n

People sometimes tell me I\u2019m strong <\/span><\/p>\n

People who stay that are kind<\/span><\/p>\n

People who say that do not understand <\/span><\/p>\n

They seem to think it\u2019s a certain kind of culturally acceptable praise<\/span><\/p>\n

They don\u2019t *really* know <\/span><\/p>\n

They don\u2019t know I see them looking at me <\/span><\/p>\n

They don\u2019t know I look back and see them and know<\/span><\/p>\n

Know that they don\u2019t *really*, viscerally, comprehend pain<\/span><\/p>\n

Know that they know *really* understand what the choice of keeping on going actually *really* means <\/span><\/p>\n

Know that they don\u2019t *really* understand that there a point where it\u2019s possible to stay down and not get back up <\/span><\/p>\n

Know that I\u2019ve been with people who made that choice <\/span><\/p>\n

Known that it was their choice, and that was ok – for them and that was strong af too in so many *many* ways – and I miss them still<\/span><\/p>\n

Knowing in that choice that \u2018staying down\u2019 can, legitimately, lead to difficulties including death<\/span><\/p>\n

Know that they don\u2019t understand that you can choose between \u2018getting up\u2019 and \u2018going out\u2019 – daily, hourly, even every goddamn minute <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFall down 7 times; stand up 8\u201d is not *necessarily* an inspirational message <\/span><\/p>\n

Sometimes it\u2019s just instructions on how not to die on an unending route march<\/span><\/p>\n

Sometimes it\u2019s literally getting up<\/span><\/p>\n

Sometimes it\u2019s literally doing it again <\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s knowing I need to<\/span><\/p>\n

Knowing that the alternative is to \u2018lie down\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\n

Knowing that\u2019s the first step in giving up<\/span><\/p>\n

Knowing that of each of my cohort for each 5 years half die, most by their own hand <\/span><\/p>\n

Knowing going out \u2018feet first\u2019 is not the \u2018best foot to put forward\u2019 if you want to live <\/span><\/p>\n

Knowing I choose not to \u201cgo gentle into that good night\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But please – let me be mother fking gods damn CLEAR here<\/span><\/p>\n

I am not your lesson on \u2018clarity of purpose\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

I am not your \u2018motivational of the day\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\n

If I am anything at all?<\/span><\/p>\n

I am the middle school PE teacher you loathed who made you do every sport half <\/span><\/p>\n

I am the basic training drill sergeant <\/span><\/p>\n

I care – so my inner drill Sargent forces me up into the day to fight once more<\/span><\/p>\n

I care – and care doesn\u2019t always look soft<\/span><\/p>\n

I care – and sometimes care is a swift kick from me, to my emotional self, to keep me going <\/span><\/p>\n

Get up!<\/span><\/p>\n

(Fall down)<\/span><\/p>\n

Get up!<\/span><\/p>\n

(Fall down) <\/span><\/p>\n

G e t the goddamn hell U P <\/span><\/p>\n

We can do this <\/span><\/p>\n

We can<\/span><\/p>\n

We CAN and we gods damned WILL – are you listening?<\/span><\/p>\n

GET UP<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Merry – LordCricket 2022 poetry marathon<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2022 prompt\/hour 7: \u201cDon\u2019t call me inspiring\u201d People sometimes tell me I\u2019m inspiring People sometimes tell me I\u2019m strong People who stay that are kind People who say that do not understand They seem to think it\u2019s a certain kind of culturally acceptable praise They…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4375,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,441],"tags":[4909,5129,5130],"class_list":["post-113247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-half-marathon-poem","category-poetry-prompt-responses","tag-2022halfmarathon","tag-2022hour7","tag-2022hour7tenthnonselfieprompt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4375"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113247"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113905,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113247\/revisions\/113905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}