day of silence

Remembered how I was going to write about my Day of Silence when I read "This Day".

I did it
Last year
I did it
This year

Standing up
For other
People's rights

I go to
Guidance
I grab my
Button

Pin it on

I get
A little
Sheet

In memorium
Of the 15 year old
That was shot

Because he was gay

I walk around school
Smack my friends' arms
In the hallways
Just like always
But this day isn't normal

I feel powerful
Like I'm making
A diference

My first class
I show him the sheet
He looks me
Up and down
Like he's wondering
If I'm lesbian
As if straight people
Can't stand up for
Gays and lesbians

He disgusts me

I head to Chorus
Show GD the sheet
She doesn't care

She grew up during
The 70's
She's cool with
Everything

I don't sing
I "audiate"
The bell rings

I head to class

Comp Apps is no
Different
She's cool too
And she knows me
She's known me since

Forever

The bell rings
To English with me

"Why isn't she talking?"
"Day of Silence thing."
"I was gonna do that, but--"
I have a presentation today,
I need to talk to the nurse,
I have a tennis game,
I have friends, I have a life,
I don't want my day to be
interrupted by some
not-speaking vow
that doesn't pertain to me anyway--
"--I just didn't."

Silence
makes it easier
to listen.
I can hear what's really being said.

Fuck you, I think.

(Maybe it's a good thing
I'm can't talk.)

They kept on asking
Why is it okay
To write notes
If you're not allowed
To speak?
And I kept on writing
It's the absense
Of my voice
That makes the statement.

How come
They couldn't
Understand?

at the end of
the day passive
was more difficult
when our silence
was just being
taken advantage
of even though at the
end of the day
those posters didn't
matter anyway
except when three
boys wandered by
hands outstretched
cradling ignorance and
lips spread wide
with laughter i stopped
to help her
tape one back
to the wall when they
were gone because
it didn't matter
that they ripped it
since the day
wasn't over and the
rainbow was
still intact. and when
she said thank
you i said
you're welcome.

I walk in,
receive a button,
And I cannot speak
The paper I receive,
To show people why I'm silent
Reads: In memory of Lawrence King
He was killed because he was gay
What world is this?
But I can't express it,
Because I'm silent

I like this day because it's the
one day when, between
8:15 and
3:00, I am
guaranteed to not say
anything
stupid since it's the
one day when I
can't say
anything at all.