Poem to the Boy in My Cultural Diversity Class

Your ignorance is not my bliss

nor is it your bliss, though you think so

"As long as it's not harming me"

those words slash me

they are daggers from your upper middle-class white male mouth

in college, people are supposed to be open-minded

we are the new generation,

ushering in tolerance

and love

You open your mouth, and we're back in the '50's

I am boiling and bleeding

and can do nothing but talk of human dignity

the basic rights of mankind

and wonder aloud

if you'd say the same thing if you were in different shoes

But my anger falls on deaf ears

which were lucky enough to be born white, and well-off.