Chasing Rainbows

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Chasing Rainbows

 

by Jemima

Allegedly this might be poetry...

 

~o~O~o~

There once was a girl who lived in a boy,
Though on balance she would've preferred Illinois,
Or anywhere else she could really enjoy,
But sadly it seemed she was stuck in that boy.

Her parents did to each other confide,
Their shared puzzlement at gender defied,
But they took it all within their stride,
And hoped if ignored that it would quietly subside.

At school all the boys and girls did shun,
This girl who was like no other one,
And whom all could see she had no fun,
This shy and scared little honeybun.

She sought out a favourite teacher to confess,
How she couldn't take anymore of this boy BS,
And that she wanted more than anything to be a princess,
But instead she was told these feelings to suppress.

In desperation she did freak-out,
And threw her masculinity into doubt,
She did sulk and cry and scream and shout,
But was firmly told that boys don't pout.

As a teenager she knew she had to hunker down,
And silently suffer the wrong pronoun,
So each night she snuggled up in a warm nightgown,
And counted off each passing sun-down.

At High School she knew that she must hide,
The fact that she was Miss Jekyll, not ugly Mister Hyde,
But her tormentors she found she couldn't brush aside,
And they fractured three ribs in her left side.

At nineteen her confidence was mislaid,
For her doctor wanted only to dissuade,
And so she left his office very afraid,
For all her dreams for the future were coming unbraid.

Her twenties passed by in a blur,
Until she met a nice woman who seemed to like her,
And then something unexpected did occur,
And in bed she ended up without a demur.

As you can imagine the experience did not go well,
Every instinct the girl had sought to rebel,
And it only drove her deeper into her shell,
As she lay, not alone, feeling rather unwell.

The relationship though only a short time did span,
Even though they both shared a love of Chopin,
'I feel like I'm living with a lesbi-an',
Said the woman to the girl hiding inside a man.

The girl in the boy was left with no one,
So she returned home to be mistaken for the prodigal son,
But I'm the prodigal daughter she said to everyone,
And my time hiding behind that boy is now done.

So she set about becoming an English Rose,
And to her time as a boy she said 'Adios'!
And sometimes she was so happy she burst out in prose,
And sometimes it was so scary she felt all morose.

Blessed with love and support the girl did blossom,
And with a cheerful smile she did disarm most problem,
For the worst she offered a few pithy words of wisdom,
For I fear the most bigoted learn only most seldom.

The girl it has to be said was a hopeless romantic,
She'd flirt coyly and try that movie Meg Ryan magick,
But to never let them get too close that was her tactic,
For fear that her beau might turn out to be transphobic.

Now the ending to this story I do not know,
Though ideally she'd end up living with some handsome beau,
Who would tell her she's perfect and leave her all aglow,
But until then she'll keep on chasing each rainbow.

 
 

Authors note: The last time I wrote poetry - beyond a couple of lines incorporated into birthday cards, etc. - was when I was 14 for an English assignment. It's been *ahem* two decades since then. So please be gentle. Particularly where I've inflicted significant pain on the English language to get the rhyme.

Oh, and I should probably say while there are bits of me in this verse, it's got an equal smattering of fictional events.

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Comments

Allegedly?

Guilty as charged

In mitigation...

Jemima Tychonaut's picture

The defendant would also like to confess to her crimes against the apostrophe as well and throw herself on the mercy of the court, M'Lady. If the court does feel the need to deport me to somewhere warmer I will reluctantly depart. ;-)

The defendant would like the court to take into consideration that she was cruelly exposed to an inhuman amount of Pam Ayers as a small child by her parents and by the time she came to the greatest English poets she thought all poetry must rhyme.



"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

I know!

Jemima Tychonaut's picture

I know! My own thoughts were very much the same. "Free verse" indeed.



"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

Chasing Rainbows

:)

    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine
    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine

:-)

Jemima Tychonaut's picture

:-)



"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

chase that rainbow!

you never know what you may find at the end of one.

"I'm not like other people - Pain hurts me!" - Daffy Duck.

dorothycolleen

DogSig.png

A pot of gold would be nice.

Jemima Tychonaut's picture

A pot of gold would be nice. ;-)



"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

Tortuous Tortured Rhymes

laika's picture

used in moderation can add humor and character to a poem and prevent
an uncomfortable air of stridancy. Nice lil' rhymey story, not glossing over
the journey's pains but leaving us with an upbeat and encouraging message.

Not too shabby
Or longwindedly flabby
(And better than getting squirted in the eye with wasabi...)
~~hugs, Laika

Upbeat

Jemima Tychonaut's picture

Thanks! :-) I came in slightly over my 500 target limit in the end and I'm really happy that this came across as upbeat while not glossing over the pain of the journey. The inspiration for this came out of my reading Brian Katcher's 'Almost Perfect', which with one or two exceptions is a very good tale but had an ending that left me a little dissatisfied. So, as for better or worse I'm a Really Happy Endings kind of girl, this was born.

As for the rhymes, it was a pain to come up with that many perfect rhymes with the need for 3 identical rhymes out of 4!! And yeah, getting squirted in the eye with wasabi definintely sounds worse! *ouch*



"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

Oh my!

But since you turned it in, it deserves to be graded:

1.Pertains to the general tenor of Big Closet. -- A

2.Strains to express thoughts without totally casting aside the ideals of "real" poetry. -- B+

3.Performed wonders in the (mostly) legitimate attempts to create rhyming couplets. ---- B
I can't even (quite) fault the pair: confide, defied. But I'm fairly sure
you shouldn't do it again.

4.Imagery that is appropriate and will not go unremembered. -- A
snuggled up in a warm nightgown
I'm the prodigal daughter
tell her she's perfect and leave her all aglow

5.Leave the reader thoroughly satisfied (and perhaps like me, all agiggle): A+

Passing Mark :-)

Jemima Tychonaut's picture

Kewl. 3 A's and 2 B's. The B+ is a great relief and the A+ makes me very happy!

"I can't even (quite) fault the pair: confide, defied. But I'm fairly sure you shouldn't do it again."

You're probably quite right there. *giggle* That was one of three pairs in there that I couldn't find a better match for in the context of the story. But it was fun. ;-)

As for the imagery, the final one you choose is probably my favourite one in the whole poem. I've ticked off the first two in real life and I'm still waiting for number three. *sigh*

But most of all, I'm glad it left you agiggle. Thank you!



"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."