Welcome to Poetically Yours. Poetically Yours showcases poems from northern Illinois poets. This week’s poet is Auburn high school’s LIT UP group member, Julianne Kubala.
The LIT UP poetry group started as a sixth-grade project in 2015 by Lori Beach-Glass. LIT is short for the word literature. The students are in high school now, but they continue to plaster their words across the community. This group participates in an open Mic at the Certified Open Mic and Poetry Slam at the Rockford Public Library Nordlof Center.
LIT UP visited WNIJ and performed on Facebook Live in April. During this visit, some of the students left lyrical gifts. This poem is by Kubala. It’s called “WHAT WE DO.”
Girls hardly ever cry in public, and you want to know why? The reason is because if we cry in public, we get called a crybaby.
If girls are chubby, we get called fat... But if we are skinny, we can't show our stomachs or people will say "you
just want attention." If we are touched in ways we don't like, people say "you wanted it to happen, you begged for it!"
We're told we are supposed to fit in... But we're also told we should stand out.... WHICH ONE IS IT?
Boys hardly cry in public, and you want to know why? The reason is because if they cry they get called a weakling... "Be a man
and suck it up" If a boy is touched in ways he doesn't like, no one believes him, they say "that he obviously just wanted it."
If a boy gets bullied, untrue rumors could spread, the bullying could get worse, and he could lose friends,
If a boy has a lot of friends who are girls, people say, "He's just looking for a hook up",
But if a boy only has boys around him, he gets told to "Find a girlfriend and grow up."
WHICH ONE IS IT?
Is there any confusion why we are confused?
The chances of us finding friends or partners that are loyal and honest are very very small.
We live with depression, anxiety, and low self-worth because of our confusion.
I guess we all are like puzzles.
I'm just looking forward to finding my missing pieces.
