Another Poetic Asides take on “forget what they say,” this one with no holds barred!
CALL ME WHAT YOU WILL
Call me too tolerant for
respecting those of other faiths.
Call me a bad Christian
for saying that God created us all equal, including Jews and Muslims and Taoists and Buddhists and non-believers.
Call me a bleeding heart
for wanting everyone to get health care.
Call me an alarmist
for insisting that hydrofracking is dangerous.
Call me an n***** lover (and they have)
for supporting an African-American president.
Call me anti-civil rights
for wishing to disband self-styled militias.
Call me anti-Constitution
for insisting semi-automatic weapons are not needed to hunt.
Call me a coward
for being a steadfast pacifist.
Call me a moron
because I graduated high school by the skin of my teeth.
Call me a bad mother
for not trying to talk my daughter out of being lesbian.
Call me a bad American
for pointing out that “under God” was added during McCarthy’s reign of terror and anti-Communist hysteria.
Call me a bad liberal
for listening to Rush and Glenn at least once a week.
Call me unbalanced
because I’m a responsible mental health consumer.
Call me a socialist
for wanting the rich to pay more into the kitty.
Call me a snob
for encouraging kids whose only adjective is “fuck” to dig deeper in their brain pan.
Call me a traitor
for believing a former president should face charges for ordering waterboarding and lying about WMDs… and laughing about it publicly.
Call me a bra-burning bitch
for having the temerity to insist on equal pay for equal work.
Call me naive
for wanting undocumented aliens to be granted citizenship (hey, if it was good enough for Reagan, it should be good enough for the Tea Party).
Call me whatever you want.
I stand by my values, no matter the consequence.
© 2010 Amy Barlow Liberatore/Sharp Little Pencil
Sharp Little Pencil 
Debbie
Call you what I will? Okay . . .I will call you . . .LOVELY and LOVED. 🙂 God bless you, Amy!
Sharp Little Pencil
Thanks for that, Debbie! Actually, it reminds me of an old Streisand song: Call me what you will, but none the less I’m still in looooooove with Harold Mengart. And it’s not because he has a car… Arnie Fleischer has a car… and a car is just a car… but if Harold didn’t have a car in his name, I know I’d love him just the same!
Lovely and loved, right back atcha, my dear. Amy
Deborah
Brilliant!!!! that’s what I’d call you :o)
Sharp Little Pencil
(blush) Thanks, Deborah! How does one subscribe to your blog? I don’t have Google friend connect… Amy
gospelwriter
Nice. I can identify with almost all of these, and actually have been called most, in one way or another.
I didn’t know that about the “under God” addition (just another ‘us against them’, fear-mongering ploy? – I’m not American). “Reign of terror” is well-named – and sadly, the country has seen much more recent one…
I was the only moron among my many siblings – now I’m the only one with a PhD. 🙂 Just goes to show…
Sherry Blue Sky
OMG!!!!!!! I LOVE every word of this. I want to stand up and freaking salute you!!!!!!!! What a poem! What a manifesto! I call you INTELLIGENT for seeing how things really are and for wanting a better world than what is being foisted on us. YAY, AMY! You go, girl!!!!!!!!!!
Sharp Little Pencil
Sherry, right back atcha, girl. We all need to be active and vocal, in whatever views we take, for this world to succeed. We need diversity of opinion, not just what I have to say, but unfortunately, media is not keeping the balance… Peace, and thanks so much, Amy
Lisa
Love this, it’s just fabulous. YAYAYAY!!
call me confused
but how do i follow your blog? 🙂
Sharp Little Pencil
Um. Gosh, Lisa, I don’t know, because if you have a WordPress blog, there’s a toolbar up top that allows you to click on a dropdown, “Subscribe.” Let me look into it and I’ll get back to ya, and NOT like Sarah Palin. I mean, I’ll actually get back to ya, LOL! Also, I do post all poems on the sidebar to the left at the Poets United homepage. But I do have subscribers, so I’ll send info to your email – expect something from me in your inbox as “smokefreeamy,” OK?
Thanks for being interested. Sorry I don’t have the techie gene to know this right away!! Amy
pamela
Amy,
Good for you. I love when a person stands up for what he or she believes in.
Pamela
Sharp Little Pencil
Thanks so much, Pamela. If we don’t stand for something, we’ll fall for anything. That’s why Glenn Beck is so popular here… oops, did I say that out loud? Hope they’re not listening, LOL.
Peace, Amy
vivinfrance
Amy, why aren’t you President of the US of A? I’ll stand beside you and shout.
ViV
Sharp Little Pencil
Oh, Viv, you are so sweet. I think it’s because I’m manic depressive and have an activist/anti-war/pro-choice FBI file that’s fatter than John Lennon’s, ha ha ha.
uponthewingsofnight
I heartily applaud every word of this poem! The world needs more like you. Brett
Sharp Little Pencil
Right back atcha, sweetie. A