I hope you understand that I deeply care about you.
Something is nagging at me to look at you from a new point of view.
I don't care about your pronouns,
I know how that sounds.
But I can see through your labels,
And behind the finely ground fables,
Within a grinding mortar and pestle.
Your body is a vessel.
I'm not dismissing your gender.
For me, your labels are not front and center.
Can you do me a favor?
Can you tell me what sets you out from the rest of the crowd?
I will listen, I won't make a sound,
Even if your feelings are raw.
Even if you list out your every flaw.
Because there is a soul, deep down, that needs to be called.
Like a snake, it is coiled,
Hiding in the pits,
Hoping for you to ignore it.
When you reach out it might try to bite you,
With its venom, your truth it will try to skew.
It takes shelter under the stables
Your pronouns are not the only labels
The hoofbeats are deafening
It might feel threatening,
To take a look a yourself,
And compare yourself to no one else.
Your illnesses do not define you.
Your religion can not complete you.
Your ethnicity does not describe you.
We bleed and spit the same colors.
What sets you apart from the others?
If not to me, can you be true to you?
I may know nothing that you have been through.
But there is something that makes you different,
It may not be chiseled into the cement.
As our thoughts rearrange,
We will always change.
To your adjectives, you are estranged.
What if I told you that snake was unfanged?
Would you still refuse to grab it?
If you were to reach out to snatch it would you still flinch?
What are you truly afraid of?
Are you afraid of self-love?
Are you afraid of being your own enemy?
Look at yourself in the mirror sensibly.
Your physical features are not your vessel’s only components.
Are you good at handling commitments?
Why does a part of you still resist this?
Do you have patience?
Do you know what your worth is?
Are you happy, caring, kind?
To these self-reflections, you may be blind,
But this life has given you time,
To weave through the finely ground grime.
It is not a crime to own that you are sad, scared, or lonely.
Just look at yourself closely,
Life is what you make it.
You have all the time in the world to change it.
Not your labels but your adjectives.
Your positives and negatives.
Are you methodical or creative?
What is your favorite song?
If it plays in the car do you sing along?
Have you read every book on your bookshelf?
In this passage, I am talking to myself,
In hopes that someone else can understand that each of us are connected.
And each of us should be respected
No matter our gender, color, health, wealth, ethnicity, sex, religion, or division.
Our adjectives are what set us apart,
Making us our own vessels of art.

© A. Tenney