Shout

I wrote this in pen in a notebook during a big lecture sometime early in my UNC years. I told people it was the one poem I had ever written that I wasn't ashamed of. I thought I had lost it, but I found it in an old google doc that was a collective suite blog for the people living in Morrison. It's not as strong as I remember, and I'm tempted to alter it before publishing. But we're here to wax poetic, not perfect and polish. So here it is, unedited, almost a full decade later.

I wanna shout
    but that’s not acceptable
Whip my mouth letting slobber and
    noise
          free
But society
    society disapproves


I think if I was
    friends
With each individual in this room
    they would get me
They wouldn’t mind
    if I shout
But as a group
    they’d disapprove


Not sure that I’m so different
    If stranger screams
Hopefully I’d support
    But I don’t know him
    Why is he screaming
    This is not a place for that
    This is not a time for that

Thanks for reading!