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I will not stand I will not stand before you I do not stand I am bound to this chair, by the unseen wires of pain, weak muscles, and spasms I will not recite I will not stand before you and recite I do not recite My memory is too full of blanks, my brain too full of holes I will not be loud I will not stand before you and loudly recite You can be loud, You can be proud, You can stand and rant, loudly proclaim, declaim, gesticulate I'd just fall over, drop my sticks, forget my words I will not wear tweed I will not stand before you and loudly recite, whilst wearing tweed I quite like tweed, the smell, the feel I never wear it though, It's never easy-on, easy-off, easy-wash, quick-dry It doesn't meet my needs It doesn't suit the needs of the temperamentally incontinent And neither does your slam, your daises, your podiums, your two steps up and your two steps down, your loud insistence on the spoken on the best way to be a poet So I'll sit and not stand I'll read, not recite and I'll not be loud
Author's Notes 1. 'I Won't Stand For This' will appear in the anthology MS: My Story
Copyright © 2015 Lindsay Oliver