Poem Alien from Songs of a Lupine

Alien: 

When they call you Matu

You hide in a field with other alien flowers

Your cotton hair firmly stands next to tapered petals on a long stalk

The lupine reminds you of corn

and unicorns

You want to weep

You run your fingers on their silky wings

And wonder why some people hate all things different

When they are afraid of you

Because they have refused to know you

When they don’t see you beyond your covered head

and colored skin

You wonder

If you could scrub the black off your skin like new potatoes

Whether they would see you,

Whether they would want you then

I see you 

And all the ways you gloriously shine

You are meant to be here, along with every other flower