Leila Ired - Please Specify

To my parents

For me,
a standardized test's hardest question
can be found on the back, before the test begins.

'Race - Pick One
Caucasian / White
Asian Indian
Other (please specify) _______.'

I know it would be simpler,
to choose the first answer or the second,
and spare myself some thought.
But I have never been one for taking the easy way out
or for cutting myself in half.

I would like to specify who I am,
dear graders, dear statisticians,
and explain why I don't fit any of your predetermined answers.
I'd like to tell you about the strum of a sitar and the sound of rock 'n roll,
about silken saris and denim jeans,
and how I eat curry and sauerkraut in one meal.
I'd like to tell you that I have my father's hair and my mother's eyes,
But the space you've given me isn't big enough.

So when I specify myself as 'biracial'
I guess what I'm really trying to say is that race doesn't matter
and that my species
is mankind.

Leila Ired

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/please-specify/