Born of a binary, black/white, white/ black. Cultured by silence, a blank slate, but no more tears. Time isn't real. They speak, they say, tell me there's nothing wrong with me; standing in the kitchen with my grandmother telling me there is nothing DIFFERENT about you. Strive to conform. Sameness is a casualty. I DON'T GIVE A **** about conservatives . "Humanists" avoiding their toxic misogynistic tendencies, old friends enlisted voluntarily perpetuating a system of violence and suffering, others are bluffing, don't say ****, walk eggshells, I must be a tiger loose from the cage, and they're waiting to see who becomes the canary in my coal mine. Rhyming by incident, but I hate this **** & I'm not all right. Women can participate in their own oppression, minorities can be racist, we're all raised in a ditch; Patriarchy, capitalism, class values, botched messages, "color blindness", etc. etc. etc. **** everyone, and don't treat me like I'm better or I should know better, or I have to be "perfect" if I want to be "different". Raised in a ditch. Cultured by racism and depression. I think of suicide like a novelty until I don't . . . Everything turns grey and reads like sloganeering. Waiting for the past to manifest as a trauma. Waiting for the past to make sense. Waiting.