PICK ON ME

I realized it since eighth-grade

Didn't matter what I had to say

Whenever I tried to express it

It happened

To come out in the wrong way

Whatever it was

I said it

In a way that was a habit

Always used words

In a way

Where the others couldn't grasp it

Other kids would be lookin at me

Like a walking dictionary

Sayin "Who the hell does this guy

think he is anyway?"

Didn't matter 'twas a habit

I always got called a faggot

But being smart was who I was

Either way

I remember Tom Cole

Though it was sometime ago

I remember it as though

It were yesterday

Skinny and mean

He would say most anything

To make the other guys laugh at me

Each day

Some people couldn't handle

The fact that I could ramble

And speak circles right

Around their little brains

So they would simply pick on me

Hit or kick or spit on me

And there was nothing more

That I could do but say

It was because they were so dumb

They'd act that way

You would think if you were smarter

That it wouldn't make it harder

But the fact is that is

Simply not the case

Every day with Mr. Soper

Brian "what's his name"

Came over

And hit me in exactly

The same place

He would punch me on the knee

Tried not to flinch

But he could see

That my eyes were filled to brimming

With my hate

Would have gone on forever

If I hadn't gotten clever

When I finally started wearing

My knee brace

I was so much smaller

'Til a miracle came over

When I grew nine inches in that summer

'Fore ninth grade

Was my size that helped me soar

Over all the shit they did before

Brian the asshole

Didn't hit or hate me any more

And Tom just walked round me in the halls

I was so glad to see that go

Found new music

And I chose

To stand out and be different

Than the rest

And though they kept calling me

A faggot

It was like my size was something magic

They didn't fight me because

They no longer had the balls

It didn't matter to me why

They picked on all the little guys

So the little guys became

New friends to me

And in our group they didn't know

What we were like

So they would show

Just a little residual

Animosity

But they never dared again

To pick on me