Stop Signs

Stop signs are peculiar

They just say STOP in big white lettering

Red background

Just to be extra

And loud



But when I was younger,

 I wondered

Stop what??



Stop eating the yogurt that was for my sister?

Stop crying over my lost toy?

Stop cracking my knuckles?

Stop biting my nails?

Or was I to stop doing anything and everything?

Is that even possible?



As I got older, I wondered

What it should mean

Stop racism 

And sexism

Stop global warming 

And fossil fuels

Stop war

And fighting

And inequality




And all of this thinking 

Came from 

Stop

Signs