Poem: Outsiders (edited from the Myth Salon on the Movies - March 14, 2024

Written and narrated by Dana White
Edited from the Myth Salon on the Movies, March 14, 2024
Music by Ennio Moricone
Performed by Grégoire Maret & Romain Collin
Outsiders
When my mom told me, go play outside
I had no idea it would last forever.
I found in myself others
Who by chance or choice had discovered
Out beyond the margins
Fields of risk and uncertainty,
Vast worlds weeding from every corner
Where we met one another,
Each of us impregnated with our own story,
Colliding ourselves into communities as outsiders
United by our unique differences:
Outside - where the only thing we have in common
Is the paper-thin uniqueness of the moment -
The still point of time that springs to life
When I find the courage to be alone with myself
Long enough to scrabble moments together
To create a song, a poem, a life.
At first, I tried going back inside
Into the safe confines of convention and ritual.
I really tried - chasing acceptance and validation.
I actually imagined I could feed myself living inside such a house.
That didn’t last long.
I soon left home to seek sanctuary beyond the boundaries
Outside among marginalized spirits
Whose trust in themselves inspired me to love,
And to learn the creative futility
Of forever stringing pearls of wisdom and soul-making
Into necklaces only they knew how to create and wear.