Bands and Bars.

Twisted, crooked, turned teeth is what was mounted beneath my lips. As a boy, I needed braces. Bars and bands, bands and bars are what would grip all the ugly, misfit and different bones. My orthodontist would say my mouth was a disaster, nothing was normal, and I needed iron casters ‘cross my pearly whites so that I may fit in with the other kids at school. Maybe I wouldn’t get picked on, called a fag, a fool, or a fat kid too heavy for the swings. My image needed to be changed for people to like me was his point. Maybe he was right, because people care about what they see, and if it was the sight of me that displeased their eyes, so be it. I shall accept the braces. I hid behind bars so that society could fix me. Change me. Make me. People like to fix things that are not the norm. Not hot or cold but warm. Not black or white but gray. Not crooked or twisted but what fit the form. The mold of what we should be, according to society. I see people. People of beauty. Beautiful is the difference between you and me. You are black, I am white, we are different. That is alright. Brown eyes, blonde hair, big nose, small ears, tanned skin, you are perfect. To at least one. The one who created you. So don’t let people change you. Do not hide behind bars and bands, bands and bars, that shape you. Braces on the faces and hearts of the people who give in to others desires. Feel loved by people for who you are. Do not be bent into an image of someone elses choice. I use my voice to defend the people that are beautiful as they are. We were made this way to be loved as is. Nobody has the right to judge and grade you. And I say, you are beautiful. Stay this way. We are loved.