Poems

Stories

  When I was young

I loved any story that had a good guy and a bad guy

Because the good guy always won

It was the same story every time

Bad guy thought up something mean or devious or evil that they would achieve

And good guy defeated them before they could complete their goal

Because they were the good guy of course

As I got older I loved those stories a little less

Because I realized

Bad guy wasn't always bad

There were different ways to look at anything put in front of me

I could look at black and white and see every color of the rainbow

Reds and blues and yellows swirling around in the depths of the solid colors to make anything possible

The story of Peter pan always enthralled me

He saved Wendy and John and Michael

He accepted the lost boys that never had anything else

And captain hook was his Villain

The handless monster that wanted to remove the light joy that was Peter pan

And then I got older and realized

Hook had been wronged

He had been a lost boy

Stolen away by Peter pan in the night

Just like Wendy

Just like John

Just like Michael

But he had understood too late

And couldn't go home without Peter's help

And Peter pan refused him

Because no story without it's villain is worth paying attention too

And Peter needed the attention

Because he was a child

Because children need that feeling of love and acceptance

Peter never got that

So he created his own world that would accept him

He made the impossible possible

He made Neverland where he never aged

Where he was accepted

Where he was loved

Fairies, mermaids, Indians, friends that he could make

A place where he could hide away his treasures

His failures

Himself

Like hook

Like Wendy

His impossibilities became possible, and with that he thrived

When I was young I was so ready to be stolen away to Neverland

To meet mermaids and live with the fairies

Now i would be content with the pirates, ready to fight Pan for my right to return home

Because it had been stolen

Because I don't need to meet the mermaids and live the fairies anymore

Good guys aren't always good

Just as bad guys aren't always bad

There are different sides of everyone

Different ways to look at everything

I can see the rainbow in black and white

I can see many possibilities in anything put in front of me

Stories aren't always all that straightforward