Spoken word poem about Tourettes
As many of you may know, I have Tourette Syndrome. I wrote this poem a few months ago, and recorded/posted it in hopes that some other young person, perhaps newly diagnosed with TS, might see it and realize that the disorder is more than just some punchline. Growing up with this disorder in an environment that didn't understand it was hard, but I've persevered and learned and I hope I can help make it easier for somebody else.
Bravo!
For the poem you wrote and you as a person.
daaaaaaaaaaaamn Son.
that's a really Good Grasp Of language and sound aesthetics going on. poetry's A form i've only really recently Started To really get but this gave me New things to Appreciate and look for.
really dig the Way the Subject Matter And Technique have such a strong association too. makes the Whole thing feel Really Neatly conceptually Self-Contained in a way i Find appealing and rare In poetry.
breddy gud
One question...
Did they really push you down a flight of stairs?
Thanks so much you guys!
and yeah- it's one of my most distinct memories of bullying from middle school. I'm from New York and my school was a 5th floor walk up.
Heavy kid + heavy backpack + mean people = 5th to 4th floor fall.
I'm honestly lucky I didn't hit my head.
Dude, amazing. And I can actually relate to the poem myself, not from the syndrome, but from the bullying and how you were able to overcome and rise higher than those who sank so low. It's really inspiring and I'll be honest when I say this reached my core like very few other poems have done. Thanks for sharing your awesome poetry ^_^
Wow. That's legitimately really fucked up. That's likeOriginally Posted by leapoffaith
As someone who grew up being bullied for various reasons, I have to say I'm not really used to people doing actual dangerous violent things in the spirit of antagonism.
Wow
New York City public school. A number of the kids who picked on me are in gangs now.
EDIT: But many others are good, well adjusted people. We all have our crappy phases!
aye, agreed! awesome acting, amigo
also, admirable and adept alliteration
accomplishments aplenty
Shit, violence like that never happened where I come from. Unprovoked violence anyway - they had to find an excuse to do it like you called him a cunt 8 minutes ago or something in front of everyone but never just do it because this guy had one defect.
Was it unprovoked? Anyway, solid poe, bro.
This reminds me very much of "This is my voice." It has a similar kind of escalating sense of energy and passion that's so gripping when it comes to this kind of recital. It's not just that the poem is written brilliantly, it's that your performance is so genuine and sincere, and worthy of its own fair share of praise and admiration just for that.
So good job, man.
Edit:
I'm pretty sure you just didn't notice it. Stuff that like tends to happen everywhere where large groups of children gather. It's unfortunate for those who has to suffer through it, since it also doesn't get that much attention.
Last edited by Victory; April 4th, 2014 at 12:48 PM.
I mean I was overweight, had glasses, made weird noises, and moved my body in weird ways. Developmentally speaking that put me WAY far behind on the whole "being social" thing. I was never mean or cruel or malicious towards people- they just decided that my difference made me less than them and therefore worthy of mockery and bullying.
Compared to the beat downs some of the kids from rougher neighborhoods had seen, a tumble down the stairs probably seemed like a mild prank. For a middle class nerd from downtown Manhattan- not so much.
I think difference of culture applies since we're more collective and reserved. Most of our bullies if any would tell the bullied to back off or go away when they're coming in the victim's personal space, plus they actually give verbal cues before doing random acts of violence.
I don't know if leap's story involved any escalation though.
I was picked on too, once. Heavily too and I associated with those who were bullied as well.
In where I come from we'd never comprehend violently attacking someone like that. Course we'd comprehend teasing and the occasional confrontational attitude and hostility but shit, dawg. We wouldn't just straight up toss you down the stairs because "we felt like it" that day.
But you can be thankful for them for giving you inspiration though lol
Last edited by Paperback Writer; April 4th, 2014 at 01:41 PM.
I'm sure I did SOMETHING that they felt was provocation. Like I said- I wasn't good at being social and had impulse issues. Never mean though.
They didn't lift me up and fling me or anything. We were on the stairs and he gave me dead arm like he always did and the hit knocked me down the stairs. What really hurt, though, was that when they were sure I was still moving they went "OH SHIT!" and laughed and waited until I got back up to the top of the stairs and said "Yo man you wiped the fuck out good!" and then just went on like nothing had happened. Could have been accidental, but if it was accidental they went out of their way not to express that.
but hey I'm fine now, so yeah- I'll just write poetry about it
I don't think your experience covers a very wide range of the behaviours that constitute a global norm. Even the most reserved cultures - like Japan - have sweeping national problems with bullying and abuse, and this doesn't stop with school; it continues all throughout life. Violence is always the most shocking example, but it's not really all that uncommon, even if you've never personally witnessed it.
I don't mean to start a conversation about this, I just wanted to begrudgingly inform you that stories like Leap's aren't as rare as we might like them to be.
Leap, you are an exelent speecher! You posess an energy when you speech which few others do. Keep it up man : D
True dat, a culture of nonviolence is usually just a culture that doesn't like to talk about violence. Dem humans are meaniebutts universally.
(dude i think part of the point of the poem is that Tourette's isn't really a "defect", it's just neurodiversity?)
(not to put words in LOF's mouth or anything, shut me up if i'm wrong bro)
To them it was a defect. I was saying about it from their perspective.
That seems about right! I mean it definitely sucks sometimes, but it seems like part of the reason I'm good with language stems from the way I hear and "feel" words due to TS.
Is this the case with most people who have Tourettes? I'm personally of the opinion that the reason such things exist and continue to exist is because of less-than-obvious evolutionary advantages. If this is the case for most people with Tourettes, it makes sense that it would continue to exist in a species so reliant on communication through verbal language.
There is definitely some connection there. Many people with TS (and other associated disorders) express themselves artistically, and as a result the pent up... whatever it is... comes out looking or sounding pretty damn cool.
And yeah- in a world where ladies go for a poet, this (especially now that I've learned to control it) has turned out to be pretty cool :p
Also for expressing yourself when normal conversation is just too difficult- check out this dude with a more severe form of TS-
Last edited by leapoffaith; April 6th, 2014 at 03:21 AM.
As much as I don't want to be a dick, this is reminding me a lot about the savant argument, where people with disabilities necessarily become good at something else as a side effect. Which is, sad to say, entirely fallacious. There are savants, there are disabled people who benefit somewhat from their disabilities, or neurodiversity as the case may be, but it's all on a case to case basis. It has more to do with talent - which is a part of mind that we don't really seem to understand that well to begin with - more than the condition most of the time.
I do think it's really cool when people take their circumstance and make it into art, though.
Of course- I edited that post like 6 times because I wasn't sure how to phrase that
Talent is nothing without practice. I've gotten better over time just like everybody else- it just happens that my personal style is influenced by my unique interpretation of language as a result of the TS.
Sorry to double post, but UPDATE:
My poem was just featured on UpWorthy!!!
Check it out, you guys! I'm clickbait! WOOOH! http://u.pw/1mZxz2n
That's awesome bro! Congrats!
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