Don’t Censor Me

Everything triggers somebody

I was invited to read a poem for this thing.

I don’t know, yet, whether this story will be about censorship or my disgust with trigger warnings. Maybe it is about both. Or maybe it is just about me and my impatience with a kinder gentler world. Let’s dig in and see.

I was recently invited to perform at an art showcase. This whole shindig is put on by Gavia Life Care Center, the place I receive psychiatric care. I assume Nazareth College is a Christian school.

I was eager to be a part of it. After all, exposure is exposure, right?

I chose my poem Praying to the Unicorns. I think it is a fantastic and relatable description of me, my life, and my mental health. I asked if they wanted to read it first. They said no, just don’t have anything too graphic.

“Graphic” is open to interpretation. Y’all read it and tell me if you think it is graphic.

I do have a trigger warning included when I publish it. But not because it is graphic. Because it is powerful. Because it packs a punch. Because it is anti-religion. Because it is about suicide (until it isn’t).

The closer the date to read came, the more I didn’t want to go. This is what my brain always does. I always fight it and end up doing the thing I don’t want to do, anyway. I usually feel good about it afterward.