Tacky fingers
Peeling back
Years of
Your labels
From my face,
It’s amazing-
Really, how
Much a million
Little words weigh.
Gretchen Leary 2013
www.gretchenleary.com
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Recent Posts
Gretchen Leary (McIntire) 
Powerful! Very nicely done 🙂
nice…the words of others do bear weicht and we do carry them…creative capture of how we wear those labels gretchen….
Thanks Brian 🙂
the peeling them back as well can be painful…but what a release when we let them go and not give them the power either…smiles…remember this one from the other week…hope you are having a good weekend gretchen…
Doing okay. We got clobbered by “Nemo” – 26 inches. I want to write tonight but I feel as though I’ve focused so much on letting go in the past month that I’m not sure I could handle it tonight. Maybe I’ll give it a shot after dinner. I just don’t want to push it. Extremely emotional concept for me multiplied times 10293839 because of the ASD. I do not like change. I do not like letting go.
ah i def understand….had to help the boys i worked with navigate that quite a bit…26 inches…wow…that is a lot of snow…i wanna see pics…smiles…we dont get that kinda snow anymore..
Words do have power and they sting even when they were uttered in jest.
oh heck yes…even the little words can weigh heavy…sometimes weigh us down…even more important to think about what and how we say things..
the peeling back has something extremely painful…or relieving…or both…?
Those little words have power ~ I like the peeling back as well ~ Nice to see you Gretchen ~
Grace
Thank-you Grace! Nice to see you again too. 🙂
Oh Gretchen, you hit me in my heart with this one. I dread my daughter going through this (and I am really beginnning to hate the words “special needs”.) This poem is an excellent example of how to convey a strong point in a few words. It is amazing how much a million little words weigh. Awesome poem!
I hope that with time, people will learn to understand and accept more often. Having Aspergers, is an odd disability because its invisible which seems to lead people to judge more freely. My goal is to help change that. The irony, in your reaction for me, is that my mothers name is Heidi. ((Hugs))
I have been reading your blog, and it is wonderful. I think you are using your voice eloquently to further your goal of change. The nature of my daughter’s Epilepsy and developmental delays make her challenges invisible as well, and people can get judgey-quickly.
So very true. It’s sad. When there is no visible disability people can think its okay because they are just teasing an odd person…
…how much a million li’l words weigh… true that Gretchen… and that we must be careful of the words we let go… for once spitted-out it will never be sipped-in back… smiles…
Agreed Kelvin 🙂
years of labels—and TAPES tooo…great metaphor
prima donna cat fight
so much said in so little and so well..so true
I like the peeling back of the labels – it’s a lovely tactile image.
I love the idea that we are reading these words exactly how you want us to. In the exact order. In the exact tone.
Good day to you Gretchen, every day.
It is good that you are able to peel back the labels. I taught a boy with Aspergers once. He truly WAS a delight, a good poet too! His writing amazed me, and he was only in 4th grade!
Fingers peeling back- I did that, too.
Wonderful. So sorry about the snow. We got some but really no big deal. k.
Powerful amd strong. I love it.
BAM! Ya nailed it, Gretchen! A small but powerful package here! Excellent write!
Thank-you!! 🙂
powerful. a good letting go