Starpoet by Lisa Jain Thompson
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Persistence of Memory

Thursday, 04 January 2007 14:16 Last Updated on Thursday, 04 January 2007 14:36 Lisa Jain Thompson
 
 
 
 
 
The Persistence of Memory
 
 
I remember being young,
Perhaps eleven, maybe twelve,
And wanting to tell my parents
I was really a girl.
Not that I wanted to be a girl,
But that I was one,
Knowing they would never understand.
Catholic, Italian, my father Presbyterian,
There was no chance they would listen.
Even my pediatrician was a good catholic boy,
His children went to the same schools as I did.
It's hard to remember how insolated I was,
But still I knew, even if didn't know
Of anything to do or others like me.
I wanted to scream
"I'm a girl, Mom, help me. Please."
Instead I hid my tears in my pillow,
Fearful of .... Just fearful
Of what would happen if people knew
How terribly strange I was.
The memory persists,
My parents have died,
And I'll never know the answer
To whether they would have loved me.
 
 
L. J. Thompson
Copyright 2000
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