More Than A Crack – Stephanie Bennett-Henry

Ask me who I am
unless you think you already know
but if you think you know,
don’t ask me anything at all.
Because if you have the mind
that sums someone up
based on all the ways
they are not like you,
I don’t want to know you.
So, ask me who I am.
I will tell you
I am not this battle in my bones
that makes me fight
ten times harder than you
just to make it through the day.
I will tell you
I am not the mask
of this material bullshit exterior facade
that can pull you in
and invite you to stay.
No. I am the outside of me
turned inside out,
the inside of me scrambled
into pieces of a hurricane
without a name,
begging you to just leave.
I will tell you
I am not the label
handed out so freely