What about a bullying poem? Can I express myself like that?
Sometimes the friends and family of someone who is being bullied don’t know what they can do to show their support. Maybe the victim is shy, or embarrassed, and they “don’t want to talk about it.” Supporters around the country have come up with a multitude of ways to express themselves, and sometimes art is the perfect way to get through to someone. Write an anti-bullying song, a bullying poem, or paint.
The “It Gets Better” movement saw a lot of spin-offs, with some participants choosing to include a performance in their video statement.
LeighAnna Dwyer of Boston wrote and performed a piece of poetry entitled “Better.” It was dedicated to Jamey Rodemeyer, a bisexual New York high school student who also created a “It Gets Better” video but committed suicide in September 2011 after years of bullying.
The anti-bullying poem is below:
Better, by LeighAnna Dwyer
I want to promise it gets better
but maybe it stays the same, you just
learn to Act Up instead of settling down
raise your head like your pride is a crown and you just won
a beauty pageant
It doesn’t get better, but you do—you get
a little stronger every day
and a little less afraid; after you live to realize
fear isn’t the only thing
that makes your heart race:
Love does the same thing…
Fight to keep your
queer heart beating day after day, because if it stops
you’ll never know whether I’m speaking truth
and the one thing I know for certain is there’s no one else in the world
with the same beautiful rhythm
to their pulse
as you.
Message boards, writing communities, and online forums have sponsored their own bullying poetry competitions, often for a friend in need. YouTube has many videos of anti-bullying poems as well.
