Stupid as You Say: A Poem

by: Pulkita Anand , November 10, 2025

(after Simon Armitage)

 

I am stupid as I have been hearing this for centuries

(The songs and narratives searing my being)

You are intelligent and have agency and authority

I value feeling more than the other things

You value fact over the feeling

I am stupid for

I remember your birthday and never forget

Which day (it is)

You are intelligent for you remember

What’s urgent

Once I heard, “She is a slut, smug, spoiled, roiled, coiled witch.”

I am stupid as I forgive and forget things

You are intelligent as you keep things in mind

I don’t mind things

Stupid as you say

Intelligent as you hear

Intelligent like Solman

Stupid like Quixote

You want to drive at a jet speed and travel across different planets

I am stupid because I respect every sight and creature on the earth

I am busy filling in the blanks and you match the mismatches

You are done and moved on and I am still in that moment

You are intelligent as you like booze and bennies

I am stupid for I am emotional and I like flowers and poems

You are intelligent for you have a solution to dissolve the earth

I am stupid for I think losing is gaining

You are intelligent for you are meticulous about calculations

Stupid as you say

Intelligent as I hear

I am stupid because I accept and respect differences

You are intelligent because you drive at the full speed

And don’t need permission for anything

I am stupid, to me gain and loss, economy and mathematics

Are not my interests

You are intelligent as you calculate the condition of progress

and make the most of everything

Stupid as you say

Intelligent as you hear

Intelligent by agency

Stupid by legacy

For me the warmth in your eyes is sufficient

For you, there should not be any deviation from the standard

I am stupid for I despise politics and wars

You are intelligent because you know who won the last war

Which country would be the next to go to war

I am stupid as I worry that the earth’s crying

You are intelligent and you believe that the technology

Has every solution

Stupid as you say

Intelligent as I hear

Stupid as I hear

Intelligent as you believe

You are intelligent because you planted industries

Stupid, I planted a garden

And treasured purslanes and periwinkles

You are intelligent for you don’t believe in the love at first sight

I am stupid for I fall for the eyes of birds and animals’ innocence

Intelligent as you are

Stupid as I am

You are intelligent for you control your emotions

I am stupid for I cry and laugh when I feel like it

You are intelligent for you make the others cry

And the planets burned and the earth churned

I am stupid as I was born without a reason

You are intelligent for all desire you

I am stupid for I go without being asked for

Intelligent like he is

Stupid like she is

Stupid as you say

Intelligent as I hear

I am stupid for I go to sleep on time

You are intelligent for the world would not move

If you’d go to sleep on time

I am stupid as I love most of the things

You are intelligent as you are selective

There is utmost precision in every selection

No scope for mistakes

Stupid as you say

Intelligent as I hear

Intelligent like Solman

Stupid like Quixote

I am stupid because for centuries I have been treated like this

You are intelligent because you have been adored and eulogised

I am stupid with my defects

And wherever you go you have your effects

I am stupid for I am promiscuous

You are intelligent because it’s natural for you

I like to be consumed by you and

You mostly consume without consent

Stupid as you say

Intelligent as I hear

Stupid like I hear

Intelligent like you believe

Outside your norm and form

I must be what I am

And so should you, being so intelligent, right?