I Had to Live With the Label You Gave Me – Written Monday 27th November 2006 (Aged 31)

I Had to Live With the Label You Gave Me

i had to live with the label you gave me
you know, i never asked for it
i did ask for understanding –
love and compassion
but i had to wear the label you gave me
and every time id did something –
with a snide smile
you quickly pointed at the label
every time i failed at something –
with a haughty glance –
you pointed at the label
every time i did something outside of the label
you ignored it
and instead, just repeated your diagnosis
the one you came up with yourself
and you repeated it over and over
like religious hail mary’s
blinding yourself to the world around you
you gave the label freely
but never did understand that –
i wore it so very uncomfortably
labels can make us feel worked out
but also inadequate and somehow missed –
not human beings –
but flatpack beings without feelings,
without individuality
i had to live with the label you gave me




James Garratt – Monday 27th November 2006


More poems at
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More about this blog, The Boy Behind the Glasses, here
https://theboybehindtheglasses.com/2020/01/08/the-boy-behind-the-glasses-an-introduction/


More poems from 2006 here
https://theboybehindtheglasses.com/category/poems-and-writing-2006/