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******** he would not touch my hand for he was not like me for him I was unclean and I'd just washed my hands pointing out differences I could not see not even reaching up to meet the answer in my eyes look I'm right in front of you (what is wrong here..) you look behind me to somewhere else to the ghost that I am to you this moment of yours doesn't even remember me there is no light in there of recognition my own reflection fails to affect so this is indifference this is your prejudice this is your denial and your ignorance which endures beyond the human flame which normally overcomes a heart and makes it care and where I fail to pass his test he moves around me he's stepping forward he knows he's knocked me down without any words without any fists long ago something like this happened at a public pool when I was wading in to test its coolness and the difference between its depth and the sweltering wave of the August air it was there in a bathing suit I was shocked to meet their accusations and their ugly lingering words and loathsome glares they said to me the water's getting dirty they said the water's infected, unsafe, unclean my only friend stood in front of me shouting at the children and their Mothers but they were not listening then my friends Mother appeared pointing with indignation accusing the children, the Mothers and all the lifeguards while she wrapped me in a sun-warmed towel around my shivering arms "how dare you treat her like this... she's never been in a pool before you've bullied her and you damn well know she's done nothing wrong..." I was eleven then-- now I'm fully grown and growing old why do I carry with me this kind of grim enduring patience why then this unfaltering stance I will hold my head high inside I've changed though many of them still are changeless I'm determined to cross this Rubicon to leave all this and them behind me I've turned forward I can't walk within those sad old steps no more. LEGAL COPYRIGHT FOR THIS POEM 1:37pm PST 6/9/2020 TIME/DATE STAMPED AND ALSO FOR THIS WRITER/AUTHOR/POET MELISSA A. HOWELLS AND ALSO FOR THIS LEGALLY REGISTERED COPYRIGHTED SITE TITLE MELOO STRAIGHT FROM HER TILT-A-WORLD WRITTEN DIRECTLY TO THE PAGE ******** ******** Vote for this poem |
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