Confessions

I’ve done a lot of things I’m not proud of
But I’m disinclined to apologize
When you see Jermaine Isaiah Duncan from Bowie, Maryland
What you see is what you get

I’m a little rough around the edges
I have a temper, but I’m a teddy bear inside
The only thing that soothes
The beast within
Is honesty in my art
My Poetry

I’m complex
3 dimensional
I’m a pop up book
Of complexities

So when you tell me to “own what I did”
That this “is not a public bathroom”
That I should “watch what I say in the house of God”
That he was “only 16”
That I’m “a terrible person”
That I am “under arrest”
Perhaps you should reflect inward

I don’t fit the mold
Never have
And I don’t intend to conform
To society’s norms
Because a couple of Karens
Are worried about
“Indecent exposure”
“Drunk driving”
“Sexual deviance”
Or any other insult you want to hurl
At a young, black, gay, and proud black poet
Who’s seen a thing or two
Before his time