" I will love myself despite the ease with which I lean towards the opposite"
- Shane Koyczan-
I tell myself that. Even on my really bad days because I have come to believe everything beautiful and good about myself. Shane Koyczan is a Canadian spoken word writer and poet who writes about things like bullying, love and how to deal with a lot of things in life. I first came across him on youtube where I saw the poem 'Shoulders' . It touched my heart and I could relate to so much in it that I had to look for more of his work. I got to listen to his albums Rememberance Year and Debris. I cried listening to practically all of them because I never knew someone could capture so much emotion in their writing.
Here are the parts of his poems that stuck with me
And if you can’t see anything beautiful about yourself Get a better mirror Look a little closer Stare a little longer Because there’s something inside you That made you keep trying Despite everyone who told you to quit You built a cast around your broken heart And signed it yourself You signed it “They were wrong” Because maybe you didn’t belong to a group or a clique Maybe they decided to pick you last for basketball or everything Maybe you used to bring bruises and broken teeth To show and tell but never told Because how can you hold your ground If everyone around you wants to bury you beneath it You have to believe that they were wrong They have to be wrong
We all go through painful experiences in life but that doesn't make us less valuable nor less beautiful nor less worthy of love. We are all beautiful souls. It is okay to have bad days. It's okay to feel lonely at times and to feel like we can't go on but the fact that we still manage to go through another day being hopeful is the definition of strength
StartFragment"There will be bad days. Be calm. Loosen your grip, opening each palm slowly now"EndFragment
" If you think for one second no one knows what you've been going through; be accepting of the fact that you are wrong, that the long drawn and heavy breaths of despair have at times been felt by everyone - that pain is part of the human condition and that alone makes you a legion."EndFragment
-Instructions for a bad day Shane Koyczan-
The poem above is what I listen to when I'm having a bad day to remind myself that things don't last forever. And that you should always positive despite what painful experience you're going through. It is hard and difficult but you should not allow pain to eat you up.
The last poem I'm going to quote is ''The Crickets have Anthritis"
I listen to this and it made me cry because he used wrote a story in the form of poetry. I will not talk about what exactly it was because I feel like you need to lisren to it yourself and understand it
but I will quote a verse from it
StartFragment"there’s bravery in this world there’s 6.5 billion people curled up like fists protesting death, but every breath we take has to be given back, a nine year old boy taught me that"EndFragment
The poems are down below if you want to listen to them
To This Day
The Crickets have Anthritis
Instructions for a bad day
Tomatoes
My Darling Sara
Thank you for reading my article. I hope you enjoy the poetry I put up