I love language
I love slang
I love ebonics and southern twang
I dont "talk white"
Theres no "proper english"
I talk how I talk.
I speak as I wish.
I'm a grammar qween
But dont come for my trouble
ain't got no time to be studdin the limits of your bubble
Because you've made a box
Of your ethnocentrism
the color in my words
Finds narrow minds in a schism
So open your eyes
See past your upward tilted nose
And open your ears to the beauty of prose That sounds unfamiliar
Or feels contradictory
Or has been beaten and stigmatized due to bias and history
Let's grow beyond that
Beyond misinformation
To cultural relativism.
To correlation.
I'll code switch if I want
Code blend if I choose
I reserve all the rights to the language I use.
You'll find me moving with pride, so culturally infused,
my head held high while I drop "aint's" and "you's a whooole fool"s
I dont "talk white"
Theres no "proper english"
I talk how I talk.
I speak as I wish.

And I wore
my mask
for so long
that it quite
burnt onto
my face.