Negative Feelings about school 

In school as a child

I lived in dread and fear

One of the Teachers often

Slapped my hands bare

Nothing I did was right

That was the daily routine

My retention was poor

My spellings bad, that's for sure

I hated to put up my hand

To answer in case

There was another slap on the way

I loved English and poetry

On an exam day

When the inspector called

I was a mess

I turned into a nervous wreck

it has to be said

Over that time

I had no self-esteem

When I left at thirteen years

I had a lot of dreams

That I have carried out

over the last three to four years

When I found out I was dyslexic

in nineteen ninety eight

This ended for me a lot of frustration

and self hate

It opened for me many flood gates

My self-esteem rose

I published a book

The buzz I get from seeing

My name in print

This is what matters to me in the end

My feeling of being stupid went away

I feel good about myself today

Written by

Marian Quinlan Curtin