More Than

Time and space. Light and dark. This or that. Either/or. 

Men. Women. 

Boy. Girl. 

Us. 

Them. 

“We can’t know who we are if we don’t know who they are."

Who am I? 

Do you decide by what I like? 

Do you decide by what I wear? 

Do you decide by what I read?

Do you decide by what I watch?

Do you decide because of the way I talk?

Do you decide because of where I shop?

Who am I?

You’re telling me. You tell me every day. 

You tell me with your ads and your religion and your dictations from the past.

You decide who I should be instead of allowing me to share. 

What is beautiful? 

You say. 

You say I have to live this way or do those things or think and talk and walk and act…

You say I have to wear these clothes designed by those people.

And eat this.

And live here. 

Do you tell the sun when to shine? 

Do you tell the light when to break? 

Do you paint the sky according to your will? 

The rains come and the flowers bloom. 

What if we could let it be?

-Jeani Cranford