This piece was written and read at a recent poetry contest. We were given a theme of stereotypes, and just over an hour to pen our works. It was well-liked there, I hope it is here too.
Why do you care?
Why does the amount of melanin in my skin affect you?
Why does my gender change your perception if me?
Are you scared of my double X chromosomes?
How does what I call God affect you?
Why should I even call God anything anyway?
Maybe I prefer to call myself an atheist.
Why should you approve of who I love?
Why should you even know who I love?
Why do you care?
I ask myself why you care,
But in reality, I know why.
You don't like my race,
So to bring us down,
You smear our face with our melanin content.
You'd never admit it,
But you are scared of my double X chromosomes.
Maybe that extra X is just what I need
To be better than you.
It doesn't matter to you,
What I call myself, or what I call God.
You only want to decide for me, because that's what you always do- control.
Well guess what?
There are more of me, and we're far too many to fit into the palm of your hand.
Who I love doesn't affect you.
You just don't like that you can severe our ties from everything here,
And we'll still hold onto each other.
That kind of loyalty scares you;
After all, it is human tendency to be scared of what you're not.
These things may matter to you,
But to me, they're worthless.
You can tear me down,
You can pull me out of my skin,
You can snap my bones apart,
And I still won't care about what you think.
Because we are all the same.
You can split us at our seams,
And you'll still find the same brain, and same brains, and the same fragile heart.
But you will find different spines.
Some bent and curved,
Fatigued from a lifetime of yielding to your demands,
Some broken,
Exhausted from trying to make you happy,
And then,
And then,
You will find mine.
Straight, erect, defiant.
I will not bend.
I will not break.
I will not be caged by your stereotypes.
You can try to make me what you want,
But I am fearless.
You are a moth,
And I am a flame.
If you get to close,
If you cross your boundaries,
You will be singed.
Beware.
