Tear Me Apart

This is a slam poem. Less effective when written than when spoken aloud, but... use your imagination.

Tear me apart.

 

Some words are ugly.

Ugly to look at.

Ugly to listen to.

Ugly to wear.

 

“Bigot” is an ugly word.

So is “intolerant.”

“Fundamentalist.”

“Bible-thumper,”

“Anti-woman,”

“Homophobe,”

Wake up already,

Don’t you see it’s the twenty-first century?

Yeah, I know,

Believe me,

It surrounds me every single day,

Modern-day Furies

Circling, swarming, screaming,

Trying to tear me apart,

While I’m holding on desperately to the one thing that’s constant in my life. 

How do I tell you

That I’m trying to live out a religion of love,

And that whoever told you that I’m supposed to hate ANYONE

Told you the biggest lie you’ve ever heard?

 

It’s so hard to make you understand, though.

Maybe you don’t believe in my God

But you invoke His name every day,

“Oh my God,” “Oh my God,”

“Jesus bleeping Christ”

Can’t you see that you’re killing me?

You tear me apart.

Welcome to a society where I can’t speak against your definition of marriage without being “intolerant”

But you, you can disrespect what I believe in every single day

Without anyone batting an eye.

 

And what’s worse is the questions.

You trap me,

Force me to give the hard answers

“Why are you against gay marriage for people who genuinely love each other?”

“Why don’t you support abortion to save the life of a woman who already has three children?” “Why do you oppose euthanasia so that suffering people can die with dignity?”

“Why?”

“Why?”

I see the smugness written across your face as I’m forced to answer with the only answer I have

And then come the worst questions,

“Why do you have to force your beliefs on everyone else?”

“Why can’t people make their own decisions?”

“Who are you to dictate what people do with their lives?”

That self-assured smile,

You’ve got democracy on your side

And I’m forced to say, “I don’t know,” [hold hands out]

You know you’ve won so go ahead,

Drive in the nails,

Tear me apart

Because God knows I’ll never be martyred for anything better than this because I AM NOT WORTHY.

 

I am not worthy.

Unfit to sing with the angels,

Unaccepted by you because of what I believe in.

And as you stand there, watching me bleed

How do I tell you that I’m supposed to follow God before the law?

How do I tell you I’m trying to think of consequences beyond this life?

How do I tell you that I don’t care about political correctness, I care about your soul?

You’re not gonna listen

But I say what I can,

Trying to keep my mind fixed on Heaven [left hand in fist up high]

While my feet are still stuck down here on Earth [right hand in fist down low]

And they’re pulling apart, [pull hands apart]

Stretching, stretching,

Why do I have to be such a narrow-minded supremacist?

Straining, ripping,

God, I’m trying to live like I’m supposed to but it hurts so much,

TEARING, TEARING, TEARING, TEARING

I DON’T WANNA BE WHAT YOU CALL ME!

I don’t wanna be what you call me.

Can you see

That I’m not trying to be intolerant,

That I’m just trying to live my faith

In a world unwilling to accept it for what it is?

 

But if you don’t wish to understand,

That’s okay.

Go ahead.

Tear me apart.

I’ve always been broken anyway.

But please remember

That underneath all the ugliness I wear,

I’m a human being too.

Author's Note

For the final project of the year for my English class, we wrote and performed slam poems. This is mine. Hope you maybe got something out of it. And if you have not experienced slam poetry before, look on YouTube... you are in for quite an adventure.

Reviews

[Kat Mandu]

Nice. I really like the structure (or lack of!) and the language is really well manipulated. I especially liked "Modern-day Furies
Circling, swarming, screaming,
Trying to tear me apart,
While I’m holding on desperately to the one thing that’s constant in my life."
Don't stop writing!

[AliciaB]

Thank you so much!

[zunie frost]

hello ...
i love your work ..
it's really outstanding work
keep it up !!!

[AliciaB]

Thank you very much!

[Parthenius]

This reminds me of a quote from To Kill a Mockingbird, "The one thing that does not abide by majority rule is a person's conscience". I love what you've written, great job!

[AliciaB]

Thank you so much!

[I am that I am]

God works in mysterious ways. There is no right or wrong unless it pertains to mankind. God does not hold one over another; and the consciousness of mankind is their own punishment. Religion is about transcending the perspective of mankind and reaching the spiritual; bigotry is only a byproduct of mankind's perspective. God remains aloof. One day, the perspective of mankind will be tried by fire, and the spirit will be all that remains; as the bigotry and sense of self burns away. All is well. This is a great piece of slam poetry, AliciaB.

[AliciaB]

Thank you!

[Centipedle]

This comes from a very hard perspective. I mean hard because this is the era of basically everyone who "assumes" that they are "oppressed" that they are entitled to something. I'm personally agnostic from a christian background. A lesbian, and tolerant of anyone. Because in the end, who are we to judge what someone believes in? Just because someone doesn't agree to gay marriage, athiesm, agnostic, satnisim(aside from extreme cases of course) does not mean we can get along. And it's in human nature to simply start pointing fingers.

This is the era of making fun and poking at religion. Calling it immoral, ridiculous, mean and other ugly words as you've described. I've seen many tolerant christians and mormons all alike - everyone's belief and I believe everyone should be free to believe what they do. Just because it isn't my thing - doesn't mean I should belittle someone who does.

One of my mom's best friend is gay Catholic man, and people seem to think you can't be in a religion and be gay.

Very intense poem, and speaks from a point of view that is not usually heard. I have a hard time understanding opinions against gay marriage but you know what xD who cares. As long as we get along - it doesn't mean we have to like what someone else is doing.

I hope this wasn't a whole sense of nothing and a jumble of letters. Pen on! I look forward to seeing more of your reviews on my work.

[AliciaB]

Thank you! I am glad you understand in a way where I'm coming from on this one. I appreciate your thoughts!

[anne]

I'm a big fan of slam poetry and I really love this piece you've created. "That I’m trying to live out a religion of love" that line really speaks to me. I also like how the title unfolds throughout the poem. Great job!

[AliciaB]

Thank you so much!