{"id":731,"date":"2011-09-25T05:30:58","date_gmt":"2011-09-25T05:30:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mtls.ca\/issue10\/?page_id=731"},"modified":"2019-04-02T13:03:19","modified_gmt":"2019-04-02T13:03:19","slug":"sean-ogorman","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue10\/spoken-word\/sean-ogorman\/","title":{"rendered":"Sean O’Gorman"},"content":{"rendered":"

Forget the Cartoons<\/strong><\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

He\u2019ll probably look just like me,<\/p>\n

he\u2019ll know how to smile and can probably make you laugh<\/p>\n

and it\u2019s easy passing pleasing drinks purchased already<\/p>\n

where something simple as a pill can leave you caught to rot<\/p>\n

from the inside out.<\/p>\n

This is a letter to my nieces<\/p>\n

and where words fall into pieces<\/p>\n

I can only hope that I might say this right<\/p>\n

and place some fear into the sights<\/p>\n

that will one day be standing right infront of you, pretending they\u2019re beside you.<\/p>\n

I want to see pictures in your lockets<\/p>\n

but knifes in your pockets<\/p>\n

because the good and bad in people<\/p>\n

is so much more extreme than we let on<\/p>\n

because Disney tells you stories where it\u2019s a man who saves you,<\/p>\n

but believe me, you\u2019re on your own,<\/p>\n

because when it comes down to that moment of truth<\/p>\n

you\u2019re the only one who can save yourself<\/p>\n

because there\u2019s those who\u2019ll climb on you<\/p>\n

just to get off on the fear in your eyes<\/p>\n

creating scars like stars becoming the only things you\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n

I want you to be carefree, but careful at the same time<\/p>\n

and the only thing that frustrates me as much as knowing that he\u2019s out there,<\/p>\n

is that he probably looks just like me, because this is a tool he’ll use,<\/p>\n

he\u2019ll come with smiles, but leave you with tears.<\/p>\n

Like Scar in the lion king,<\/p>\n

or Jafar in Aladdin<\/p>\n

the real versions of these men are out there<\/p>\n

and like predators, they prey in the silence of comfortable situations.<\/p>\n

But you come from a long line of heroines<\/p>\n

From Eleanor of Aquitaine<\/p>\n

who fought for these things again and again.<\/p>\n

To your mothers and your sisters<\/p>\n

who\u2019ve covered their own blisters just to keep you, you.<\/p>\n

If only for a little while longer.<\/p>\n

Now I\u2019m torn,<\/p>\n

do I tell you these things that I know will prepare you,<\/p>\n

or do I let you live in ignorance just so I don\u2019t scare you,<\/p>\n

because I\u2019m scared that 1 in 4 is just a rounded-down estimation<\/p>\n

and it\u2019s only 1 in every 4 who comes forward<\/p>\n

towards trying to make a sign that someone might see,<\/p>\n

but we have a court of law, not justice, so noone listens to the pleas<\/p>\n

in a legal system acting too busy<\/p>\n

where the rules of law is like the Forrest through the trees<\/p>\n

and only those with bruises you can see<\/p>\n

are barely taken seriously.<\/p>\n

There are good men and there are bad men out there<\/p>\n

and I\u2019m caught on this fence between running away from this<\/p>\n

and towards you<\/p>\n

because I\u2019ve lived in fear and it\u2019s unimaginable,<\/p>\n

and I\u2019ve been in love… and it\u2019s awesome!<\/p>\n

I want to teach you how love holds no bounds<\/p>\n

and exactly where a mans arteries can be found.<\/p>\n

I want to teach you so many things<\/p>\n

but I don\u2019t want to contradict myself,<\/p>\n

Because before and after can never be the same<\/p>\n

and a vacant look on your face would say more than I\u2019m comfortable saying myself.<\/p>\n

I want to teach you about Goldilocks and how locks can be picked<\/p>\n

and how long hair might save you, or give the wrong person something to hang onto,<\/p>\n

because the truth is you\u2019ll never know for sure<\/p>\n

until after the fact, or until it\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n

And truth be told<\/p>\n

like the tools used to carve names into trees bark-bare<\/p>\n

this is a man made fate for women everywhere<\/p>\n

and these are the days when swords no longer come with shields<\/p>\n

and like Andrea Gibson said<\/p>\n

your bodies have been a battlefield<\/p>\n

you were born with scars that other women took to their graves<\/p>\n

trying to save future generations from the same fate,<\/p>\n

but there are still rainbows you can see and stars that will tell you stories.<\/p>\n

I want to teach you about spaceships<\/p>\n

and the space between endings and new beginnings<\/p>\n

where knock-knock jokes can go on for days<\/p>\n

and all the light in the world is only there for you to play.<\/p>\n

I believe in unicorns and goblins, those monsters under the bridge and mutants in the alleyways<\/p>\n

and from the spiders in our attics to the ghosts beneath our beds<\/p>\n

I want to teach you what would scare the bravest men dead,<\/p>\n

because one day someone will try to use you, or abuse you,<\/p>\n

now I\u2019m not trying to confuse you about the beauty in this world,<\/p>\n

I just want to teach you something that you\u2019ll use, something useful,<\/p>\n

like a knife in your back pocket<\/p>\n

for when that guy convinces you that you can trust him,<\/p>\n

for when that guy get his hands on your drink knowing that the cops will never bust him.<\/p>\n

Not everyone will enter your life for the right reasons<\/p>\n

because not all of us are standing on our own two feet<\/p>\n

and some of us will take from you just to not feel incomplete<\/p>\n

and not everyone will smile because they\u2019re trying to be nice<\/p>\n

and not everyone will give without recognizing the price<\/p>\n

so remember, your open heart and open mind have to meet you open eyes<\/p>\n

because I\u2019ve heard people say that which doesn\u2019t kill you will only make you stronger,<\/p>\n

but it doesn\u2019t always work that way and that rule was made<\/p>\n

by the same men who made the rule of thumb<\/p>\n

and it was said without saying, not so thick it might brake you,<\/p>\n

just thin enough it might cut you.<\/p>\n

So with your eyes open let the shadows crash<\/p>\n

falling back into the places posing personal pleasures<\/p>\n

like feathers from the forms that once flew,<\/p>\n

now ripped out and thrown to let fall,<\/p>\n

you are the legacy that lets others be free<\/p>\n

so fly<\/p>\n

and live<\/p>\n

and fear<\/p>\n

and love<\/p>\n

and hate<\/p>\n

and trust<\/p>\n

and overcome<\/p>\n

and be.
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