Spoiler! :
Today I sit in an open display,
It’s WWII time in American history classes,
The librarian has placed me—
Yes, me---- The infamous Kurt Vonnegut work,
The supposedly “anti-Semitic, anti-American” Slaughterhouse Five---
Between two history books.
Big change from 1981,
Big change from when the Island Trees School District,
In their close-minded landlocked prejudice
Sent me packing from New Jersey,
Like the black sheep of the family.
Me and my brothers, those works the board of education claimed were “Just plain filthy”
Were expelled from the library like naughty children,
And they, the board, prided themselves on a job well done.
On how they protected their charges, the youths of the highschool and junior high,
But they, the board, didn’t know, that me and my brothers
Were liked, and wanted.
Our friends, our protectors, the youths like Stephen Pico
Raised their voices in protest, and argued
On how me and my brothers belonged in the family,
In our old home, the library,
And how our friends would fight for our rightful place to sit next to
Our father, Shakespeare
And our mother, Anne Frank,
They fought, and the battle was drawn out for over a year
Until that highest of orders, that highest of courts
Told the board that “Freedom of Speech doesn’t end at the schoolyard gate”
And told them to let the prodigal sons
Back into the house
And let us sit with our family.
Without that court, the highest word of law,
This wouldn’t have seen justice
And my ideas wouldn’t get their freedom.
Gender:
Points: 1599
Reviews: 32