Full-time Report

Poem by ONSIDE participant Lynda

Lynda’s Introduction:
I’ve gotten life, which I didn’t have before, out of the ONSIDE Project. I’ve had so many opportunities which have enriched my daily existence.

Altering States

Alone again, all day, all week
No knocking upon the door
No little faces peering in the windowpane
Silence roars when you’re alone
Deafens and batters ‘till your mind explodes,
Then retreats into dormancy— that self-protection, did you know
“She can’t do that,
“Don’t take her there!
“Didn’t you think of the bloody terrain
“And the fact it’s pissing down rain?
“She can’t do that, she can’t do this.”
Sometimes I think you’re taking the piss
I sit alone in the car while you all go off—
Sidelined, holding all your handbags
I should swap your lipsticks around
That will be my revenge.

Now a little black window, framed in plastic
This thing’s totally fantastic!
It lights up and so do I
Faces and voices, now Familiars and Friends
I love the noise ONSIDE makes
The fact I’m alive now, dormancy dispelled
ONSIDE has cast a wonderful spell
It stirred the cauldron of opportunity
Without any stress
Chances and choices, so many to take.
Courses and classes and joining group chats.

“You are able in here, all one and the same,”
Equality at last, while you have a blast
ONSIDE’s just class!

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