"checklist" poems - Hello Poetry

the world needs a lesson in self esteem we can start by re-examining exactly what each part of that term means self (hyphen): "to, with, toward, for, on, in oneself" esteem: "favorable opinion or judgement; respect or regard" self esteem: to hold a favorable opinion or judgement, respect or regard, to, with, toward, for, on, or in oneself the world needs this lesson because our children do not know what this term means because the reason they do not know is because their parents did not know because the reason their parents did not know is because every generation before them passed along a belief that you had to fit into every box, had to blend in to every crowd, had to meet every bullet point on the checklist in order to be considered a person of worth because the great secret that they never told is that people were not made to fit into boxes, or be marked on a checklist because my mother married a man who did not deserve her because she thought that she wouldn't be able to do any better because that man looked at his beautiful new stepdaughter and told her she was worthless, and that her mother knew it too because that girl was cursed with the hips and the **** and the waist of her great grandmother and when she went to school with her stepfather's words in her head a boy in her second grade class said the same **** things, and worse because i was that girl and i was never the girl who got to walk behind me in the hallways and laugh at the way that my shirt was too tight, and my thighs were too big, and laugh even harder when i cried because my best friend in high school was always "the hot one" and because i cried myself to sleep every time one of our guy friends talked to me about how much he wanted to **** her because i craved objectification before i'd even finished ninth grade because i wished that i could sink my hands into my own flesh and rip pieces away and be left with something "beautiful" because i looked in the mirror every day of my life and pointed out every small detail of what was wrong with my reflection because i hoped that would help me pretend it didn't hurt when other people pointed out the imperfections because even after satisfying girlfriend boyfriend girlfriend boyfriend, i still did not feel good about my own body because it took finding the woman that i want to spend the rest of my life with to make me want to turn the lights on when we **** because she is the most beautiful woman that i have ever seen but before me, she'd always wanted to leave the lights off too because we are grateful to each other for the confidence we have gained and because we both wish we hadn't needed the other to find something that should have been found within ourselves the world needs a lesson in self-esteem and i know this because i had to write this poem

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May 25, 2014

May 25, 2014 at 7:19 PM UTC

emma-shinn

The World Needs a Lesson in Self-Esteem

the world needs a lesson in self esteem we can start by re-examining exactly what each part of that term means self (hyphen): "to, with, toward, for, on, in oneself" esteem: "favorable opinion or judgement; respect or regard" self esteem: to hold a favorable opinion or judgement, respect or regard, to, with, toward, for, on, or in oneself the world needs this lesson because our children do not know what this term means because the reason they do not know is because their parents did not know because the reason their parents did not know is because every generation before them passed along a belief that you had to fit into every box, had to blend in to every crowd, had to meet every bullet point on the checklist in order to be considered a person of worth because the great secret that they never told is that people were not made to fit into boxes, or be marked on a checklist because my mother married a man who did not deserve her because she thought that she wouldn't be able to do any better because that man looked at his beautiful new stepdaughter and told her she was worthless, and that her mother knew it too because that girl was cursed with the hips and the **** and the waist of her great grandmother and when she went to school with her stepfather's words in her head a boy in her second grade class said the same **** things, and worse because i was that girl and i was never the girl who got to walk behind me in the hallways and laugh at the way that my shirt was too tight, and my thighs were too big, and laugh even harder when i cried because my best friend in high school was always "the hot one" and because i cried myself to sleep every time one of our guy friends talked to me about how much he wanted to **** her because i craved objectification before i'd even finished ninth grade because i wished that i could sink my hands into my own flesh and rip pieces away and be left with something "beautiful" because i looked in the mirror every day of my life and pointed out every small detail of what was wrong with my reflection because i hoped that would help me pretend it didn't hurt when other people pointed out the imperfections because even after satisfying girlfriend boyfriend girlfriend boyfriend, i still did not feel good about my own body because it took finding the woman that i want to spend the rest of my life with to make me want to turn the lights on when we **** because she is the most beautiful woman that i have ever seen but before me, she'd always wanted to leave the lights off too because we are grateful to each other for the confidence we have gained and because we both wish we hadn't needed the other to find something that should have been found within ourselves the world needs a lesson in self-esteem and i know this because i had to write this poem