A World in Fragments

You look at me and you don't see it---I
Seem just like you, or maybe I look worse,
Or better---I'm a white man---do you see
So many others just like me? Deny
Your eyes---they lie---I differ---that's a curse
To you---I have a mind you try to flee.

You see in wholes, then slowly break them down---
I see in fragments, slowly build them up---
You see in hierarchy---you have to place---
I see equality from white through brown,
Men, women, gay and straight---I give my cup
To fill each member of the human race.

Though born among you, my borne culture's strange,
And I am born with it---you're merely born
Within your culture---yours a dress, mine skin--
And there is nothing that I can arrange
To help you see---you're blind, I am forlorn---
We are and are not always never kin.

I have a sort of ultraviolet sight
That can't see red---and so I see the shapes
Of things you cannot see---and also, you---
You fail to see what brings me joy, delight---
And much of you is hidden behind drapes
So all I see is shadows of the true.

But there's a true you hide from you---the sun
Exposes it to me---it makes me laugh---
That laughter, it offends---you think me cold---
My care is practical---what I find fun
Is boring---yet, I promise, it is half
As boring as your anecdotes half-told.

And yet, you look at me---I'm merely odd---
Naive, perhaps---I'm privileged, that seems clear---
Those things you see, think you see---my eyes dart
Away---you think I'm rude---I'm hearing God
In poetry---anxiety and fear
Are ever-present---stop!---behold my heart.