"Never have anything to do with likes and dislikes. The absence of what one likes is painful, as is the presence of what one dislikes."
- Dhammapada 16.210
It's not just you
who worries about
the gypsies
sitting with young children at bus stops
on their way to Saturday markets and
playgrounds -
their children bound to hear
slurs, see their father bumped as
a drunk does a wall -
no personhood at all in that shove.
It's not just me who worries about
the Americans
lacking love of languages
unstung by poetry
lost to beauty
shunning speech
preaching an English
I don't know and don't want
It's not just you
who worries about
transgender folk
ending beaten not by
hate but
broken by cliques
sticking not with but
away from them
Reminder - they are us,
just differently so.
If they go, so do we.
Exclusion is a small room
that only gets smaller
over time.
- Dhammapada 16.210
It's not just you
who worries about
the gypsies
sitting with young children at bus stops
on their way to Saturday markets and
playgrounds -
their children bound to hear
slurs, see their father bumped as
a drunk does a wall -
no personhood at all in that shove.
It's not just me who worries about
the Americans
lacking love of languages
unstung by poetry
lost to beauty
shunning speech
preaching an English
I don't know and don't want
It's not just you
who worries about
transgender folk
ending beaten not by
hate but
broken by cliques
sticking not with but
away from them
Reminder - they are us,
just differently so.
If they go, so do we.
Exclusion is a small room
that only gets smaller
over time.
