imagine
imagine
there is a landmine in your veins
tic tic ticcing away
counting down the days
until you can look in the mirror
and see yourself straight -
imagine
there is a crowd of passerby
rudely staring
eyes bulging
like you're the greatest freakshow
they've ever seen -
imagine
everywhere you go
explaining your hilarious condition
explaining why your wrists twist
and your face twitches
picture their confusion -
imagine
a stranger trying to explain to you
that tourettes is this thing that makes people swear
and obviously you're lying, you don't swear
you just move a lot and in weird ways
obviously you don't have tourettes -
imagine
a world where you come chained
with a pre-existing disorder
and everyone else comes with fertile minds
in which Hollywood plants
their seeds of misconception -
imagine
energy building in your limbs
as you try to hold it in
your entire being overtaken
by the desire for one simple twitch
a choiceless addiction less socially acceptable than heroin -
imagine
some guy who doesn't have a clue
telling your mother that your sister
should be a special needs student
feel the anger brewing
think of the patience and composure needed -
imagine
that you are the most patient
most composed person in the room
but the way you move
people just assume
that you have no self-control -
imagine
being portrayed by the media
as exactly the opposite of what you are -
imagine
being completely in check with your emotions
but not your body -
imagine
being a freakshow
being a hilarious condition
being live-action comedy
being scared of life
being scared of yourself -
imagine
there is a landmine in your veins
tic tic ticcing away
counting down the days
until the world will look at you
and finally see you straight -
imagine
living with tourettes syndrome.
This poem is about:
Me
My family
Our world