difference :: a poem

difference

Elijah McClain
should be alive

should not have died
for being different

I don’t know if
he was autistic,
but
he feels so familiar
like a family member
his music
his choice of words
his love for animals

he should not have died
for being free
for being different
for waving his arms
as he was walking home
wearing a mask
walking in
his own
beautiful
way

his mother said he was a healer
she said he healed himself
and others
he gave
and received love

a young man walking home
in a way that suited him

we will not survive this
if we do not change

there cannot be
a table or chart for this

if you hold normal where you want it
everything else will feel distant
off-putting
threatening

difference

on an interview
a cop
described Tamir Rice
as a “child in a man’s body.”
this is some
flimsy justification
for the shots that took his life

No.

A child in a child’s body
a different kind of child’s body.

or,

a young man walking home
in a way that suited him

Elijah McClain should be alive
and
if
a boy can live in his own skin
walk on
tiptoe with dancing arms
or in circles
with his head down,
with no threat of violence
if a girl can be taller than
other girls
if people can get along with
animals more than people
if people don’t always answer
questions when asked
and that is okay
if some people cover their ears
at loud noises
and that is welcome
if Black boys can rock back and forth
and not be in danger
if people can speak in
different volumes and tones
and be safe

this is how we can all be okay
this is how we can be free
this is how we will be free.