melissaahowells - Stronger Than The Brave

I've heard
what a fierce and strange lot we are
we folk from North Dakota
you'd have to be stronger than the brave
to survive here

I know this

I wonder if I am going to make it
through to fifth grade

you have to be
truly stronger than one could ever imagine

it takes one powerful bit of
conjuring to understand
the kind of misery
I've had to deal with daily
because I don't fit here
in Fargo, North Dakota

God help me

my opinions are different
my Father drinks
I actually know the definition of Communism
I am actually smarter than a lot of my classmates
and I dare to do my homework and enjoy it

I'm prepared to deal with all
these items on my list:

1.)be run over by a bicycle for knowing the answers
2.)learn to skedaddle home a different way from school every day
  in order to avoid being beaten up
3.)learn not to breath under the covers when my Father
   comes home after drinking all night at the bar
4.)swear I'm an orphan every chance I'm asked about my parents
5.)work hard to please my Mother so that there's a chance I might
  have a cookie instead of celery or carrot sticks
6.)lose weight so that I'll allowed to go on an airplane to
  to see my Grandparents who live far away
7.)when all else fails, I always keep my bike and sleeping bag
   and gear ready for instant overnights by the river even though
   I'm truly afraid of the dark and come home covered in mosquito bites
8.)remind myself to stay away from the Catholic kids coming home in the
  opposite direction, remembering that broken nose inflicted on me
  the day of the Valentine's Day Campfire Girl Mother/Daughter Tea
9.)tell myself childhood isn't forever so I can quit Campfire when I
   squirrel up the courage even though my Mother makes me stay so that I'm not
   such a social misfit mostly because she's the stupid Campfire Girls Leader

its no wonder, most days I am so tired
I thought being this tired business
happened only to adults with jobs

I've learned
you have to be fierce and strong
to be from Fargo North Dakota

I know now that I am
stronger than the bravest of the brave

.......
I am old now
I don't live in North Dakota
I've someone to love who loves me,
we have a sweet cat
I enjoy cold Sumatran coffee
write poetry by the moon
I paint and wear bright colors
when the early sun rises

am I lucky to be here

perhaps God had nothing to
do with that

Copyright May 16 2016 written directly to the page with no particular
format...all true, no poetic license taken, real life.

We all survive our childhoods and some of us are the much better people
for it. Life is a sum total We all are sum totals and nothing can be
negated. Me, I am doing jim-dandy right now, a real thriver-survivor.

Copyright May 16 2016 all rights reserved by this author.
Meloo  straight from her Tilt-a-World/ M. A. Howells
legal copyright to this site title by this Author