on why i stopped yelling back

snowballs, spitballs,
& speculations about your sexuality:
slurs on the street can never guess.

if you do respond, you’ll never prove them wrong.
you’re not you to them.
you’re green jacket and long hair.
you’re earbuds and quick step.
you’re easy target.

say nothing & they fill in the gap of
your personality with what they’re
already convinced of.

say something, give them a droplet of
the ocean that you are, & they’ll try to drown
you with a different kind of depth.

so if they’ll only remember you by your
quickened pace & call you anything but
your name,

know that almost 100 % of the stars that
we see at night are just optical illusions.
the actual star lies a little bit to the left.

or a few light years to the right.