Take me to the Karakoram Road, I beg—

Where the mountains meet the rivers, 

Entwined with the pathways of cracked cement

the bus driver glared at me

like i was a sin to society;

he called me a fag—under his breath,

and i got in my seat like nothing happened. 

They came to this country

Seeking a better life.

They started

With a suitcase and

A one-way ticket.

They said goodbye to

Their friends

i hope that you rest easy as the world

tumbles down into fire

for you did everything you could

& we didn't do enough. it was never

your fate to carry the failures of

common sense & education, but now

at all, 

1, 2, 3, 4, 

all go in and out the other side, 

it's always been this way, 

kindergarten and getting in trouble because I could not solve,

2 minus 5. 

No matter how far I run

how loud I scream

how hard I try

I'm never fast enough

never loud enough

never good enough.

Because even if I am,

I'm not.

For every woman being raped.

For every trans made illegal.

For every Native forced out of their home.

For every black person called “lesser.”

Every time a women makes 87 cents

A man makes a dollar

For every time a woman gets spoken down on

A man is the speaker

For every time a woman gets called weak

A man is weaker

I'm so mad I can hardly write poetry anymore, 

every word rushes out and tumbles down, 

knocking the inside of my skull, 

a dull roar that follows me to school and home again. 

One girl’s lanky frame against the dark turf field,

lit up by fluorescent lights 

She saunters toward the building 

holding another girl’s hand

Is this what it feels like?

To not be considered human?

To be some invalid,

Invisible thing

That almost nobody wants?

Is this what it feels like?

To be rejected and turned away?