it's hard enough for me
to conjure up my strength in the form of words
i shouldn't have to shout at the top of my lungs
just to be heard
sometimes i'm the boy who cried wolf
and others i'm a canary in a coal mine
it's too hard in this country
to try and fight for my rights
i don't care if they take my life
i will let everyone else fly

closets are for clothes, not for fear
lockers are for books, not my peers
jail is for rapists and the streets are for protests
not vice versa

is this too hard to understand?
are you too busy saying "war" instead of stealing land?
are you too involved in bigotry and pro-life
saying a marriage should be a man and his wife?

newsflash, *******, this isn't 1890
open up your mind to something less blinding
women aren't objects and their insides aren't purses
not meant to hide all their tampons and zip up their curses

besides,
zipped lips can't quell a revolution
we're fine without your exclusion
because of your conclusion
that we don't matter.

my throat hurts from screaming my name
people try so hard to bring me pain
honestly, i don't know how i stay sane
i have to yell in their faces to gain some respect
their dissection of my being makes me a monster
giving me feelings i try not to foster
and i want to hurt them back.

i want to destroy them for stealing my confidence
for planting fear in the soil of my soul
for declaring war on what they find obscure

it's easy to realize
that their words are not an army
and their fists are not drones
but when their weapons strike
and their bullets pierce any shade of skin
screams fill the air and they grin
our society is the Lord of the Flies
and we are the pigs.