This poem originally appeared on Sumayyah Said So.

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waving the blood-stained banner of unity

you feel fit to uncover me

leaving me drowning in acid rain

galvanized by excuses imaginary

spouting rhetoric with no pillars of belief

intimating to me that my place is nonexistent by popular demand

while waiting for the bus to rumble past

so i can hitch a ride

underneath

yet you accuse me of slinging shit on your good name

you take my rageful silence as consent

my bewildered throat clearing as argument and mistake my confused inaction for shame

dissatisfied and questioning

if my indoctrination is complete

to thine own self tell lies

is the pronouncement

while a bitter few decide what’s true

be magical and better and emulate us

so we can erase the other from your space

don’t sound like them

or do as they do

don’t look like them

or have names like them

or heaven forbid have kids with them

just don’t be them

at least not in public

or else we’ll crucify you too

it must be nice to awaken from sleep

knowing who you are and why you’re there and not have a sore jaw from clenching and holding in screams

remembering as the fog lifts that

equity and equality are forbidden words to dream

Sumayyah Talibah 27 April 2016

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