In honor of Valentine’s Day, all this week on our blog we’ll be posting pieces from our January 31st reading on intercultural dating and relationships.
Identity Love Poem
It’s not true that when I love you
I don’t see race or ethnicity
To overlook it would be to ignore
the structures that shaped you
Outside a bar in Buffalo some kids
yell something at us from their car
It’s a little hurt but we say they
wish they were as fly as us
In my favorite city you read
Race Matters on the train back
Somewhere in Toronto couples
astound me, you blame history
A little hurt but we both confess
to loving this country after all
Here we’ve become accustomed
to asking ourselves questions
What would our parents say?
Do we have anything to declare?
How do we know each other?
I mean really know each other
I want to see clearly how it felt
All those lifetimes without me
I want all of the hurts to know
And I want everybody to know it
So what else could I ask for?
A million ordinary things together
A million ordinary conversations
A million little hurtful things
To be there and to know them all
To bear witness and keep going
Post-Identity Love Poem
But I’m not hurt, you say
Well I am, I tell you after
I’m speaking for you again
History repeating itself
Why not? I’m demanding now
everything you never told me
A million little hurtful things
All the way across the continent
And then together, the language
barrier, as any between two people
We are people again, ultimately
Or at least just two hearts
in two different bodies
And was it the body failing us?
Is that what we meant
when we talked about justice?
Is it enough to bear witness?
Where can we put our guilt?
“But you must keep on
because you write for all of us.”
“Please do it even when
you want to never think about it.”
