painful memories

I was part of a creative writing seminar with Author Helen Cross at my university. The poem below was a result of that. It was really good to do the exercises that she had us do and it open some old wounds with me about my time at school. It was emomtional but also quite liberating because I read it out infront of everyone directly afterwards. Releasing it like dropping a crumpled dead leaf in a fast running stream.

I remember being a happy boy, smiley, dribbley, laughing. A cheeky chap.
That began to change when i went to school
A place with a law of it's own
If you conformed to their trends and opinions, you were accepted
If you looked different
sounded different
you were singled out, forced to live a lonely time
I had glasses, a hearing aid, braces on my teeth and
a stammer when I spoke
just about as different as you can get for a child
I don't remember much of my first day
because forgetting makes it easier to deal with why
my smile went away