<\/p>\n
Poem 10<\/p>\n
Different<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Why can\u2019t I be like everyone else?<\/p>\n
Whispers tell stories any kid can see.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Minor holiday Hanukkah blown up<\/p>\n
to act like overwhelming Christmas.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Why can\u2019t I be like everyone else?<\/p>\n
Why do I have to be different?<\/p>\n
Little Harvey wondered these things.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
When the small group of Jewish kids<\/p>\n
was taken to the back of the school room as much<\/p>\n
to not partake in Christmas as to celebrate anything else<\/p>\n
he didn\u2019t realize that it was setting him free to be me.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Different meant he didn\u2019t need to think and act like everyone else.<\/p>\n
Different is how he learned to get beyond the laughter on the Catholic School bus<\/p>\n
when his name was called as he joined them on a field trip.<\/p>\n
Different got him past the priest who told the Catholic kids not to play with him.<\/p>\n
Different explained the nuns who kicked him out of the gym.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
And different is how he learned that what he chose to do came from an inner place<\/p>\n
that didn\u2019t need anyone else to approve.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The curse of my childhood<\/p>\n
set the stage<\/p>\n
for the freedom that came later.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Because I wasn\u2019t taught to not think, just listen.<\/p>\n
I wasn\u2019t taught that the foremost thing was to be a good sheep.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I was taught that there is freedom in different.<\/p>\n
And that has been the directive the rest of my life.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Poem 10 Different Why can\u2019t I be like everyone else? Whispers tell stories any kid can see. Minor holiday Hanukkah blown up to act like overwhelming Christmas. Why can\u2019t I be like everyone else? Why do I have to be different?…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-miscellaneous"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95640","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\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95640"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95657,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95640\/revisions\/95657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}