Don’t give me that look!
To the girl behind the counter
She gave me a strange look
As if the whole world locked in this gaze
A foreigner too, I suppose
With an accent as alienated as mine
Not acceptable to everyone here
I felt
Emanating jealousy
From those brown eyes behind the veil
Wanting the things
I’ve worked so hard for
So, I won’t give them up easily
For something you desire
With your hands yearning to touch
All my products and cards
It’s personal – this antagonistic approach
Anachronistic like a Greek tragedy
Where the eternal conflict is heard
Envy, hatred, punishment
For nothing at all
Better genes, broader horizons, lots of energy
Directed towards other things
Than normal people think every day
Food, sex, television, kids, holidays
What if only to brag?
Where were they and what they saw
With their little eyes
Without even taking a closer look at the intricacies
Because you can only discover them
If you soak yourself
Deeply in the culture
Language and other people crave
Over there
Only then can you get acquainted
With someone outlandish to you
Letting go of that cloud of jealousy
Dispense it freely in the air
Without troubling your ancestry
*
May – September 2022
***
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About the Creator
Mescaline Brisset
if it doesn't come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don't do it.
unless it comes unasked out of your
heart and your mind and your mouth
and your gut,
don't do it.
so you want to be a writer? – Charles Bukowski
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