A Plate Full of Hate

/You’re worthless/

/You aren’t one of us/

/Your eyes look funny/

/Go back home/

these cannibal words ate my confidence,

for they loomed larger than life,

in my six

year

old

brain.

Now, with the sea of a lifetime

/between them and now/

I know these words for what they are…

Wisps of smoke

spewed from the mouth of children

masquerading masks of adults that came before

that amount to nothing.

I feel sorry for them

don’t be surprised

I truly do…

They never had a chance

/their plates were ever full/

to grow

/but their bellies were ever empty/

to be better.

/because their plates only knew hate/