Reasons Why I'm Going

To learn to teach.

To live near the desert

To live near the ocean.

To escape the crush of scheduling, for which I take full responsibility.

To ask God how to stop being so angry.

To produce nothing, be known for nothing, be right about nothing, defend nothing.

To confront my loneliness, and befriend it.

To be out of the country during the 2016 presidential election.

To know Muslims.

... and there are many more reasons, some I haven't even allowed myself to think of. It seems to me that no one lives without an agenda. I just want to have a good one.

Lies I'm Tired Of

All my life, I've been told, I've been sold,
that my skin is too pale.

On the other side of the world,

Leixin has been told, has been sold,
that her skin color is too dark.

And now we're sitting across from each other in the library,
bravely whispering, discovering how we've been shamed,
and how we've thought we were ugly
for no FUCKING reason.






Alternate ending #1

...and how we've thought we were ugly.

I'm done buying it.

Alternate ending #2

...and how we've thought we were ugly
to please no one but a liar
who delights in our misery.