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Foreigner Abroad

Ashley Black

I am an outsider

I do not belong

We do not even speak

The same mother tongue

 

I question everything I do

Is this the American way?

I am like a dancer in a play

Who does not know the moves

thinking

Do I swish?

Dal spin?

Do I sway?

 

Because what better should I do

Than to assimilate

Since I am tired of sticking out like the sun

In the hot summer months

 

You do not need to remind me

That I do not belong

With your questions

Asking,

Do you come from huts?

Did you have water?

 

You do not need to remind me

That I do not belong

With your insulting questions

Your mocking of my accent

Your mocking of my customs

And the pinching of your noses

At my traditional foods

 

We are different

You and I

I know this

 

Because you have made it abundantly clear

I am an outsider