I liked it better when you were

At the back of the bus

Then I didn’t have to look at us

To look at all the similarities

Between you and me

 

It was easier when

I didn’t have to see

That we treat each other so differently

When you’re not sitting right next to me

A place for everybody

And everybody

In their place

 

It made it easier to tell us apart

When you stayed in your ghetto

And I stayed in my trailer park

 

When you were

Sitting in the back of the bus

It became easier to believe

The wore out stereotype myth

That you bring this all on yourself

 

It made it easier for us to get along

When I couldn’t see

There was something so very wrong

With these invisible divisions

Between you and me

 

It’s simple to mock and dismiss

Arguments about privilege

When you aren’t next to me

Both of us naked and vulnerable

In the sameness of our humanity

 

©workingclassproduction.com, 2016