They live in their neat houses with
molded soap in baskets in the bathroom
just like white people's houses.
Air fresheners fill the air,
just like white people's houses.

Banish the shrimp paste, the garlic stew!
The smell musn't be too ethnic.
We are in the U S of A
where everything must be
pretty and nice, tidy and neat
and good smelling too.

Quiet!
I'm busy growing leaves
and buds in the spring sun
which melted the snow
and the solitude
in which I was enwrapped.
And I need all my vanity
to give birth to each new sprout.
And so outside my room
I hung a sign:
"The woman is out!"

© Olivia "Bette" Mejia