I am your enemy (a poem)

I am your enemy (a poem) September 29, 2013

sad devil

I am your enemy
because I am ignorant
because I am privileged
because I am impulsive
because I have zeal which turns into hubris
because I presume that good intentions are good enough
(or maybe because whatever I haven’t had easy
isn’t a category that counts
maybe you need my straw man
as the foil for your righteousness
maybe you are every bit as white and male and rich and straight as I am
in your own other way).

I really want to pick up my toys and go home
and have something really cutting and brilliant to say
in a perfectly choreographed scene
where a screen door slams
not hard enough
that you could call it anger
but just enough that the truth falls off the counter
and makes a mess on your floor
that you can’t blame on me
since you left it too close to the edge.

But you don’t get to stop me
from walking on eggshells
to get to the place you are
I will do it on my knees
and smash every one
till I’m covered in yolk.

You don’t have to be my friend
but I refuse to be your Satan
and I will keep on sliding
across a sticky kitchen
until I’m set free
from all of my sins.


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