<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=567145" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>Of Cliques and Monopoly</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">Doesn't everyone have to forgive themselves<br>For the half-formed, maladaptive masks<br>They once wore in youth? In school, I lived for years<br>Underneath a knitted navy blue cape<br>All through junior high, worn daily<br>To disguise newly sprouted breasts<br>And complementary curves in other places<br>They must have wondered then<br>If I had any arms at all, under there? <br>It was a teenage security blanket extraordinaire<br>Thank god, the cape finally gave way<br>Before high school, under it's relentless use.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">By high school, I wanted to defy being labeled<br>Terrified of belonging to one particular sub-group<br>I lived in a shades-of-blue uniform all year; <br>Steel blue shirts, navy pants<br>No bright yelling colors, no makeup..<br>No school uniform could have been stricter-<br>I defied both convention and classification<br>Only my hair was unkempt, always in my eyes<br>Part of the covert rebellion perhaps: <br>I was in the army of one.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Since I refused steadfastly to identify with anything<br>I unwittingly joined ranks with the only group that fit me: <br>The outcasts. At lunch in the cafeteria; we, the dregs<br>Of high school society, sat at the edges of the room; <br>On the very last table; rungs on a ladder going nowhere, <br>And we fit together like a hinge<br>Swinging from side to side, as the doors opened, <br>And more often closed, on our expectations and ambitions: <br>Only one of us went to the prom<br>And not the one you would have guessed <br>One did drugs sometimes, but none of the others ever admitted to it.<br>I was the closet drinker no one knew about; <br>Always able to keep a secret, no matter what<br>My grades were really too high for the outcast group, <br>But therein lay it's beauty: no where else to go.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">I never understood that my decision <br>To pledge myself to nobody and nothing<br>Exiled me by default, into the group that nobody wanted to be in<br>I have always underestimated the effect of decisions<br>Everything has always been all or nothing; black or white<br>Which means in monopoly terms, I always had overwhelming <br>Victories and defeats<br>And in my now-habitual role of non-conformist, <br>I have never been<br>To even a single high school reunion: <br>Somehow, I think they are not surprised.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Patti+Masterman">Patti Masterman</a><div class=q> <img src="https://www.citatepedia.ro/g/32share.png" style="float:left" alt="Share"> <script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=567145" data-title="Of Cliques and Monopoly de Patti Masterman" data-description="Doesn't everyone have to forgive themselves For the half-formed, maladaptive masks They once wore in youth? In school, I lived for years Underneath a knitted navy blue cape All through junior high, worn daily To disguise newly sprouted breasts And..."></div> </div> </div>

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