girl with a lighter

I held the lighter and thought about
lighting your books on fire
not because they’re not beautiful
but because you’re an asshole

You remind me of my own blood
just as violent and condescending
and the way you looked me over
was nothing short of rude
though if I had dared to gaze at you
with such distaste
you would have had the gall to call me racist
when colour had nothing to do with it
and you don’t know enough about my family
to think I know nothing about racism

I might admire you as an artist
and yeah, I could definitely learn
a thing or two from your words
but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t have
found my own poetry in setting light to paper
with the kind of symbolism
that gets misinterpreted
in a way that I wouldn’t have been able
to talk my way out of

And maybe that’s what stopped me
the potentially politically incorrect
interpretation of my desires
… well that I don’t want to be the bitch
that lights things on fire at other peoples gigs

© Indie Adams 2014