3rd day of Poetry Month 2018

Today's prompt is 'Against'. I'm against so many things these days, so I picked something that critical and necessary.

Against Bias

I see you standing in the line-up at the bus shelter,
hiding behind the construction workers
chatting about their high-rise job. I see you
keeping quiet, trying to blend in, reading your Qur’an,
its’ blessed text, its’ words of wisdom, your life’s daily ritual.
But if I see you, so will the others, so will
the anti-Muslim voices, who wish no strangers
in their midst, in their subdivisions, in their malls.
Then a confrontation cracks
the silence of waiting and some giant yells at you,
and you step back
right into me. Then I yell back,
causing a scene, asking his friends to pick sides,
bringing our reality to a line-up at a bus shelter.

I have your back, friend. Welcome home.


© Catherine Woods 2018