I don’t talk much about it anymore, but I was bullied a lot as a kid. The biggest, baddest kid in the school didn’t like me. A small Catholic school where most of the other students had been in the same class since kindergarten and I was the new kid in sixth grade. It hurt. It still hurts.
That is the message behind this short book by Shane Koyczan. The wounds from being bullied never go away completely. They affect us “to this day.” In reading the poem I had flashbacks to what it was like for me. In reading his experiences I saw my own.
This is an amazingly poignant and heartfelt piece of spoken word poetry. It was illustrated by around thirty different artists who took turns making visual images to go with the words. This is similar to the video that was animated by many artists, but not identical.
I will find a copy or two or three of this and add them to my personal and classroom libraries. I urge you to read it as soon as you can.
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