You Make Me Make You
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 The Book of Possibilities |
Time was
There was a certain pleasure to be had in knowing
A legend, a story, a tale
That had grown in the telling from a seed of an ancient thought
To a saga of the human spirit
To know that Zeus cheated on his wife
Vain father of the gods, to make a fool of her and drive her to insane acts of jealousy
Brought Ancient Hellas into focus
I could have seen it on last night's news
But “appropriation” — when I am learning to honour through comprehension
Or thought I was
Can you see me as emissary, as ambassador
Not as colonist, as supercilious explorer?
I want to immerse myself in your culture with the full honour it is due
Not to steal or co-opt
Not to profit from its riches
Except to enrich myself emotionally
To expand my mental wealth
I want to walk with the great Kings of Mali
You may stare if you want – I am white and from a largely
Christian nation
If not a Christian myself
My pasty skin can brand me as an outsider, an undesirable
I am comfortable to risk not being accepted
Not gaining your trust or respect
I can do nothing but offer mine and hope to win yours
But please, as ignorance is rife enough
Without willing it on those who would cross from one world to another
Simply in mind or in actual fact
Can we not drop the stigma of “other” between us
It's not my fault that my culture is bland
Lacking stories and the will to tell them
All I can do is claim that as a human
Storytelling and story-collecting is in my blood
In my very bones
And once we are bones, we are not so different at first glance
Can we see some fresher points of similarity
Compare our differences and come up smiling
Before we wither and rot
All chance of détente left far behind?
Your stories are safe with me – I come only seeking wisdom
Not as a thief in the night
A POEM by Jen Frankel. Use the search engine at the top to learn more about Frankel. OR CLICK HERE and read her BIO!
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