Meet My Ambiguity

Some people look at me and wonder

About my racial pedigree

Others assume they can decode

The riddle of my ancestry

There are those who like to guess

Based on what they think they see

A few folks feel the need to challenge

The ingredients in my recipe

Some even have the nerve to argue

Like they’re some kind of authority

There are those speaking from

Self-proclaimed superiority

Some can’t decipher race from

Ethnicity or nationality

Each new pair of eyes brings

Unpredictable inquiry

These are just the facts of life

When you present ambiguously

Life as a human question mark

Comes with its own complexity

What folks wonder, ask, or think I am

Reveals more about them than about me

Like the Rorschach inkblot test

Lets me peep their psychology

I understand some feel confused

I get the curiosity

Still, it’s a lot to live each day

Under constant scrutiny

This skin, this hair, these features

Don’t compute conveniently

Some don’t know how to relate

Til I’m in a category

And when I spill outside the lines

Assigned by this society

And present a greater spectrum

Than the one-two binary

I’m suddenly a conundrum

Challenging supremacy

Go ‘head and blame my Ancestors

For alla this audacity

I always strive to honor them

By repping inclusivity

Though my perplexing appearance

Can make some people jittery

Like I’m somethin’ to be solved

They’ve got to find the answer key

There is no easy explanation

For this physicality

My mere existence jacks the norms

And codes as very contrary

Created to break a few rules

And defy some boundaries

But for the record, let me state

Regardless of what people see

I’ve always known where I belong

I feel no ambiguity

I’ve never not been crystal clear

About this here identity

And other folks’ ideas

Don’t rattle my reality

We’ll challenge each other til the day

We see everyone’s full humanity

Til then, I’ll flaunt MY definitions

and proclaim, ‘This is WHO — not what — I be!’

Copyright © TaRessa Stovall on www.metissagesanguemisto.com: Celebrating, Inspiring, Valuing & Mentoring the Mixes and Mashes.