People Conceive Me (Inside - Outside Poetry) Poem by Gert Strydom

People conceive me as overly assertive,
making a stand in adversity,
the motor-biking, parachuting daredevil,
ex-soldier who is wilful, headstrong
and who will take the government,
or anyone on,
and on defending my poetry,
I have even being told
that I need psychiatric care,
must wait until a car kills me in on the freeway,
a established mayor Afrikaans poet have said
that I am selling my soul
for the wishes of my readers,
that my poetry is extreme poor,
written faster than anyone can type,
and totally without workmanship,
that I have not advanced
beyond high school level yet,
I have been told that I am politically incorrect,
that I am spreading hate speech
while I have been exposing the very truth,

while inside I want peace from adversity,
a chance to live a life in tranquillity,
to earn a fair and decent living,
to have a place like everyone else in the sun,
to write poems in any way that I want to,
to use rhyme or free verse
or any other kind of poetic form,
and I am constantly trying new forms,
am constantly trying to sharpen my skills,
I am constantly trying
to become a better person and poet.