maybe they're sorry now

gettin' in debates lately,

wonderin' if i'm a mean

person but then i thought,

no, jamie, whoa, jamie,

you're speakin' up, and i

patted myself on the back,

and smiled a little and

said "this is a good thing"

i was once so quiet so

non-spoken and i always

bein' told all the time

that i have powerful

words and words are

powerful. so all these years

i've been quiet, i've been

learnin' readin' learnin'

always writin' never speakin'

and now it's time to say

"hey" and i speak up

about things like

immigration and gay rights

and feminism and what is

it to be woman? and what is

it to be a man? and what

do i want? and yes, i'm

going to do what i want.

and i'm not going to do what

i don't want. i'm going to read

novels by tom robbins and

not be afraid to disagree

with people and not let people

tell me i need to calm down..

these were the same people

who told me to speak up,

maybe they're sorry now.

i will own my emotions and

validate them, let them

help me, let them help others.

trust my intuition and use my

words to educate, inform and

build up. we have so much

building up to do.