"Beyond the Surface of Bullying"

I learned early in the playground dust that laughter can be loaded.

A circle forms, a name gets thrown and somehow I'm out-voted. Teachers said just

walk away like it was that easy. But you carry

every hallway word like gravel in your chest. 'Cause bullying ain't

only fists, it's a thousand paper cuts. It's the silence after saying stop,

it's the bruise nobody fronts. From schoolyard lines to office doors, to homes where

love goes cold. I'm still here, I'm still standing up, and I won't

be someone small. At home the walls were thinner than the rules I was living.