I will always be one of them
Never one of you
No matter how I change my voice
Or what I wear
Tighten the cloth around my neck
Choking to comply
Stain shamed handshakes
The border of us and them remains upstanding
The ache of my experience is already enshrined in folk songs passed long before my ancestors’ existence
What I have failed to put into words is already laid out before me
the shallow harshness of English inadequate
yet I am unworthy to house my writing in anything else
Jan 15
Jan 15, 2026 at 9:21 AM UTC
I will always be one of them
Never one of you
No matter how I change my voice
Or what I wear
Tighten the cloth around my neck
Choking to comply
Stain shamed handshakes
The border of us and them remains upstanding
The ache of my experience is already enshrined in folk songs passed long before my ancestors’ existence
What I have failed to put into words is already laid out before me
the shallow harshness of English inadequate
yet I am unworthy to house my writing in anything else