Proud To Have Themselves Treated Like Children Poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

Of course they have depicted me as a fool.
Wouldn't you...
If I came along to infect,
A collective ignorance the others project!

I give them credit for putting that label on me early.
I had always been a maverick.
And accused of not being down to Earth.
You know the kind...
Blind by accomplishments,
That provoked and stirred.

You know the kind...
Proud and dignified.
From the ghetto but bestowed with self worth.

You know the kind...
Trying to be somebody,
When those around me...
Were satisfied to be clowns and jerks!
Enacting sterotypical images,
Without self motivation.
Or identities to exert!

You know the kind...
Those who complain about their lives.
And proud to have themselves,
Treated like children.
And disrespected like dirt!

Of course they have depicted me as a fool.
Wouldn't you...
If I came along to infect,
A collective ignorance the others project!

Look around you!
Those that are accepted...
Have neglected themselves.
And are totally conditioned to live fenced in!
Undisciplined with no respect.
For themselves or anyone else!

As they are taught to appreciated their own neglect!
And this is what they believe,
Are their true identities they wish to perceive!
Fed to them as they crave and eat!
And skillfully done...
With a purpose to ignore,
A welcomed self defeat.