We Are Not Our Labels
by Lisa A Kramer, in Arts and Social Justices
, Poetry
We are not our labels
yet society and language
demand labels.
We are not the color of our skin,
for race is a label
created by patriarchy and greed.
The beauty and range of skin color
of eyes
of hair
of bodies
are simply parts of the diverse natural world
where we were born.
We are not cis or trans
het or bi or gay or . . .
These are the words created
to explain only one part of ourselves
for those who refuse to see the whole.
We are not just wife or mother
or vessels for babymaking
Yet these are the labels that
patriarchy and religion want to force upon us.
We are not our religion
even those who choose to worship
a specific god
for those labels, too,
were created to divide one from another.
To claim this is superior,
and that is not.
Labels are the language of division.
They limit our ability to hear,
to understand,
to empathize.
We must look past our labels
not to pretend they don't exist
but see the whole being that carries them.
And what is that whole being?
Human
