I attended a few Slant Poet Festival workshops presented by the Emily Dickinson Museum. This poem popped out of my head during today's session about exclamation points.
Be Brave
Be brave!
Call yourself a writer.
Call yourself a poet.
Call yourself a songwriter.
Call yourself a singer.
Call yourself a musician.
Others may call you
Lady, woman, girl,
Mother, daughter, wife.
Occupation, hobby, station in life,
So many labels,
So many terms,
To describe you?
To define you?
To pigeonhole you?
Call yourself what you want to.
Celebrate, validate, affirm
yourself!
If you write, you are a writer,
If you play music, you are a musician,
If you make art, you're an artist,
If you create, you're a creator,
If you do something important to you,
Acknowledge yourself.
Be brave!
Call yourself what you want to,
She, her, he, him, they, them,
And be wary of those
who need to put you in a box they construct.
Be brave!
