Dishearten

The Poem-A-Day challenge today, by Poets Aside, brought us an interesting prompt -  a word coined by Shakespeare (each poet's choice) should be the title and the theme of our poem. I'd have never imagined that more than 1700 words we commonly use today were created by Shakespeare. That inspired me, because I do, too, love to create words!  People look at me funny sometimes, buy hey, if Shakespeare could do it, so can I! :)

If you're interested in seeing some of Mr. Shakes' words, check them here: http://www.shakespeare-online.com/biography/wordsinvented.html

For this poem I chose "dishearten".

Dishearten

Some individuals just like to dishearten you,
you might have tasted that bitter feeling, too.
Some creatures are soulless, I don't mean
they are mean – no! They are just empty,
therefore they know less, they do less good,
they hurt more often, and they like to
dishearten you, and me, and the kids along.
I call those species “dishearteners”.
If you come across a disheartener today,
just dispatch the gremlin away!
Because to dishearten is really easy,
and it can be confused with good intentions,
so you may not realize the deep thought
behind the words of a disheartener.
It may come in different ways, like
hypocrisy, envy, harsh criticism and
the worst of all that throws you against the wall:
pretended good advice for life.
Those who unwillingly dishearten you
start saying that you'd better be, do
or have it (whatever it is)
some other way.
And that's how they discourage you
from being, doing, and having it the way
you feel like. They wring your confidence
and daunt you from living the life you choose.
If you meet a troll like that when you go for a stroll
and it says that this way you won't amount to anything,
tell it to go take a hike, because you live
your life the way you like.

- Rosangela C. Taylor

Wrong Label

And the Poem-A-Day Challenge continues... today the 21st day with the prompt "what I am" and/or "what I am not".

And here we go...



Wrong Label

What I am, nobody knows
Where I stand or
where I go
nobody can see.

Not even me.
Because I transmute
often, I change route.

You think I am what you see
but you know nothing about me.
You are part of my story
belong to my inventory
but you never fought my battles.
You didn’t rebuild my castles.

You just fantasize.
And you envy my paradise,
you vaguely see my treks,
you don’t know about my wrecks
and yet, you judge my acts.

You don’t know who I am
and you don’t give a damn!

You know nothing about
what’s in and out
of my changing views
from the lowest grounds
to my highest hills.
From my spring valleys
to my pitch-dark alleys.

And you label me,
anyway. As if I were
a box of Lipton tea.
You are unaware
but I am not
what you thought.
I am not a finished product,
ready and packed.
Me, you cannot predict.

Where I am today and where I go
remains an incognito.
Who I am now won’t be tomorrow
that’s life’s sweetest marrow!

I am the expedition –
offbeat,
unique.
A special edition.
Or the expeditionary –
unpredictable,
mystical.
A visionary.

No delimitation
or definition.
There is no end of me.
I am just free to be.

– Rosangela C. Taylor