To Speak or not to Speak
To be heard, or is that vulnerability?
To be strong, or is that defiance?
Conform, or stand alone?
I dream to have the courage to be heard
To shout that the pigment in their skin is not a
consent form engraved with letters that read ‘shoot me’.
Or would that be too direct?
To scream that what they’re wearing-rather
anything they do is not an open-for-all invitation to intimacy.
Or would that force self reflection?
To yell that they, no matter who, deserve understanding.
Or would that provoke too much emotion?
I yell and my words will stay weighted awkwardly in the air.
Being passionate must mean being irrational.
So I just nod, and my body fights
to force a smile that won’t inflict accountability.