When I look
 (a poem)

I have been thinking,
a lot,
the last two days—
about WHO I WANT TO BE
in this moment.

IT’S NOT about them.

it’s not about what they say
or do.

It is all about facing my FEAR,
who I want to be
when I see injustice,
when I encounter inequality and inequity,
when I am confronted with abuse.

Who do I want to be
when someone stands
in MY face

and yells AT me—
saying I am not worthy
of respect,
of basic human dignity,
let alone love?

What they do
in those moments
has nothing to do with me,
it’s based on how I LOOK
in their eyes.
It says nothing about me
as a person.

What I do,
WHEN in that moment,
says everything
about who I am
and what I stand for.

BECAUSE
when it all comes down to it
I can only control
one
person
in this world.

~ elr

This poem is my first experiment with what I am tentatively calling a red letter poem. It is like a black out poem but with a secondary message in red, uppercase letters.

In this poem, the secondary message is derived by reading, bottom to top, each of the RED lines.

Image: ID 14144153 © Designer491 | Dreamstime.com