My negative elementary school experience
By Demetriss Moore

In school I was taught that children are mean
and we all are bullies
I had teachers that thought I was sunshine
because I was simply so quiet all the time
I learned that this was the best way to survive
in the classroom, on the playground, and at home -
the best way to survive was to disappear
and so I faded into myself
into my teachers' expectations,
my mother's expectations,
and my church's expectations.
I came into elementary school a quirky, odd child
who had a lot of imagination
and was different
I left elementary school totally normal
having become the faded portrait of everyone's expectations.

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