{"id":4558,"date":"2026-02-09T17:44:55","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T17:44:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/?page_id=4558"},"modified":"2026-02-14T10:55:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T10:55:11","slug":"i-am-a-boy","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/mmac-paintings\/i-am-a-boy\/","title":{"rendered":"I am a boy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Apart from my father, no one ever
\n<\/span><\/span>saw the boy I was, just the labels
\n<\/span><\/span>that were slapped on me, so I was
\n<\/span><\/span>written off:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Trouble-maker, disruptive
\n<\/i><\/span><\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 attention-seeker, no-hope
\n<\/i><\/span><\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0delinquent, weird monster,
\n<\/i><\/span><\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0LUNATIC<\/i><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Ears were always deaf to my
\n<\/span><\/span>high-pitched lost-child voice
\n<\/span><\/span>crying in fear and loneliness:
\n<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 HELP<\/i><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But they didn’t
\n<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 or they couldn’t
\n<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 or they wouldn’t
\n<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 care
\n<\/span><\/span>because they believed
\n<\/span><\/span>that I was beyond help<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

until that man looked me
\n<\/span><\/span>full in the face, unafraid
\n<\/span><\/span>of my demonic tantrums<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

not shocked by swearing
\n<\/span><\/span>nor embarrassed by wild
\n<\/span><\/span>eyes and foaming mouth.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I tried to look away, but
\n<\/span><\/span>his eyes would not let go,
\n<\/span><\/span>and the scream that rose up <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

in me withered as the knot that
\n<\/span><\/span>had grown tighter every year
\n<\/span><\/span>began to loosen and unravel.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

He wrenched my fury from me
\n<\/span><\/span>until I was an empty vessel
\n<\/span><\/span>ready to be filled with calm.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Now I know I’m not a monster;
\n<\/span><\/span>I am just a boy who could grow up
\n<\/span><\/span>to be a man like him.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a9<\/span> Alwyn Marriage 2026<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Apart from my father, no one ever saw the boy I was, just the labels that were slapped on me, so I was written off: \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Trouble-maker, disruptive \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0…<\/p>\n

Continue readingI am a boy<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":4538,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4558","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4558"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4661,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4558\/revisions\/4661"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}