They yell at you

Avoided like a plague

But you never did anything wrong

  

Because they're blind

Like a deer in headlights

Oblivious to the inside

  

You're just a fox

That's all they see

And that, they can never look past

  

Your light that shines

Never given a chance

Never given a chance to prove yourself

  

B e c a u s e   y o u ' r e   j u s t   a   d i r t y   f o x

Black Robe
High Bench
Pursed Lips.

Furrowed Brow
Hand to Chin
The Perfect Pose.

Letter of Law
Bias Hidden
Masked Indifference.

Walk the Mile
Tighten Straps
Pull the Lever.

So common for its ease,
Like feathers wandering in the afternoon breeze;
So trivial, lacking empathy,
Like humans subjugating nature.

So easy to deny knowledge,
Like fake news carried by the constant breeze;
So common, without understanding,
Like information without discernment.

Lacking empathy;
Respect is disregarded;
The other is excluded;
Vision is closed;
One's own interests are prioritized.

For unfounded beliefs,
Without seeing the facts
That reveal the subjectivity
Of the view of one or of many,
Which, nevertheless, does not define
Wisdom, knowledge, discernment –
So relative, even through reason.

Like cattle in false pens,
They prefer to be guided
Rather than seek and uncover,
To think, test, and define.
Belief, prejudice
Or time?
The misinformation of people is maintained,
Trapped by the interests of certain exclusive groups.

And I, thinking,
Without destination,
Reflecting on myself,
Confused,
Spreading uncertain concepts,
Certain knowledges,
Modified.

Exotic flair dances in screaming hues,
Sensual stench beguiles with spiced odour.

Welcomed strangers crave tamed adventures,
Staring spiteful, shocked at ordinary extremes.

Mother, limit your daughter – in the name of love.
Father, torpedo your son – in service to the family.
Family, direct the daughters – for the call of their fathers.
Love, sabotage the sons – for the sake of their mothers.

Religion, preaching freedom, chains
its limbs to bones and brainstems.
Shadi, rupee, social media
replace Vishnu, Brahma, Shiva.

Exquisite journeys in a shadowed dream.
What a thrill – At such a bill.

Tolling hungrily the hollow bell
High in pious belfry hung.

Lofty words as pride dictates
From deep in cavernous dwellings
To keep a doctrine as one
Keeps hope of the future
Locked in a chest --
The ritual of past and present notions.

Receding line at edge of seaboard
Feeding on dry land the watery grave
Filled with borrowed sentiments adrift.
The open sea -- open sores of prejudice

Cut off from inlets of vision and reason.
Preserved as Lenin's body under glass.

A man was lynched yesterday
He didn't even have a name
His only crime
Was not being white
For this he got himself hanged

A man was beat yesterday
Beat for having dark skin
How dare he be from
Somewhere different than us
That is a cardinal sin

A woman was ***** yesterday
By a man she thought was a friend
***** in her home
Then left beaten and alone
Screaming inside her own head

A man was shot yesterday
For loving different than you
Shot in the head
And left for dead
His partner's heart now broken in two

Is this the country we want?
I thought this was the land of the free
Gunned down for love
Or strung up for nothing
Doesn't sound free to me

Why not just let people live?
We're all different in our own way
But cut us you'll see
You bleed just like me
We're not so different at the end of the day

Where do society's extremists abide?
Rallies and Racists go side by side.
BBQs offer up well-done bigots;
On Jordan's lap dance the zealots.
Dogmatists rant in wild front rows,
True believers don't put on such shows?
Sexists cower in coastal Compounds,
Sects marry often in Salt Lake towns.
Troglodytes tan beneath southern suns.
Sepratists hold their final stand
On this side of The Rio Grande;
Fanatics occupy far Left and Right,
Partisans Op Eds are meant to enlight.
Mysoginists grab till they have blisters,
Huns and louts date brothers and sisters.
Philistines take our private spaces,
And whistle-blowers can't show their faces.

Of all the ists I know and abhor,
The musicist is a bigoted boor;
A connoisseur I abjure,
Who chooses tunes he insists
Are superior than my interests,
And disses tunes I like best.

So now I'll lay my needle down,
I've turned the table that goes round,
And plead musicists won't hesitate
To enjoy the tunes... don't discriminate.

Why oh why have we become so woke
To the point of companies going near broke,
All for the sake of garnering support
From vocal fringes, then quietly rushing to abort.

Is the effort worth the prize
Pandering to an audience that must surely realize
Division is not the path to integration
Empowering voices that just believe in denigration.

Acceptance is rarely mandated or imposed,
It's a result of customs willingly transposed
To reflect a kinder more inclusive world
And in the process eliminating the absurd.

Activism can often be the kernel for steep
Change,
But in the wrong hands is alienating and deranged,
With effects that counter all that would be good
Demeaning the very essence for which they stood.

We the silent throngs just watch and wonder,
What's brought on this wave of mindless thunder,
Strife and upheaval causing nothing but confusion,
Resulting in a world of societal delusion.

Democracy is not another word for anarchy,
Where a vocal few usurp reality for fantasy,
But one of tolerance and communal understanding
To mold a world where actions are outstanding.

Where parent is not set against their child,
Or leaving differing opinions unreconciled,
Where sexuality does not become a sword,
Or Race the blade to cut across the board.

When will politicians and the media say enough,
Accepting that their narrative is huff and gruff,
Full of potholes and dead ends
Turning people into enemies not friends?

Why not allow good sense and wisdom take the stage,
Willing denigrators to turn another page,
Supporting causes that are simply just
Thereby forging a society sure to last.

Frankenstein was only a monster because that's what people made him out to be.
He was actually a kind and gentle soul but that was what everybody refused to see.
Frankenstein only became violent when the angry villagers decided to attack.
They came at him with torches, axes and pitchforks and he had to fight back.
After he killed in self defense, the villagers burned him to death, it was a horrible fate.
People's prejudice made them attack and Frankenstein died because of fear and hate.
When the villagers killed him, it was a terrible incident.
They feared Frankenstein because he was different.
Those people let hate and fear blind them, they thought that killing him would put their minds at ease.
But they soon learned that they were the monsters because of prejudice which is a horrible disease.

It's terrible
No words said
Yet your eyes yell
Pinching aroma embed
Oh, well
I wanna be more innocent
To make your heart discontent