All My Favorite Colors

I don’t know,

I’ve never particularly 

Had a problem

Integrating the world.

But that’s the problem

That so often happens 

For others,

And I think

It’s the biggest problem.

It’s great to know

How things are different 

But to keep them

Locked up in little boxes,

Separate,

Apart,

Deliberately,

Defiantly,

Angrily,

Defensively,

As if something will be lost...

And I get it,

Sometimes 

There have been efforts

To lose identity 

By force,

To integrate

By eliminating 

A minority’s features,

And that was always wrong.

But it’s also wrong

To repudiate

The melting pot.

It’s wrong

To rob yourself

Of the ability

To embrace unfamiliar things

Because you think 

It might threaten 

The integrity

Of what you’ve got.

But listen,

You have no integrity

If you fear such a world.

You lose far more

Than you retain

If you hide from

The possibilities.

If all you experience 

Is an echo chamber

Then eventually 

You go deaf.

So this is a message

For all my sisters and my brothers.