let’s pretend
that labels don’t matter
how you look
how you talk
what you believe
how you dress
let’s pretend
none of this matters

let’s pretend
that words don’t hurt
that barbs and jibes
deliberately sent
maliciously lain
or accidentally misinterpreted
aren’t meant
to inflict their pain
that festers in the soul

let’s pretend
that that which makes us different
merely makes us different
and our nationality
our culture
our religion
our personality and our defects
matter no more
than the color of our socks

let’s pretend
let’s pretend
for just five minutes
that all of us are living
in the darkness of acceptance
that fear and hate
are no more a part
than pterodactyls and neanderthal
in this total darkness
what do you see?
my size
my clothes
the color of my eyes
the things in my past that show
let’s pretend that we are all
nothing more or less
than human
and in our humanity
— if you prick us do we not bleed
find the comonality

let’s pretend
and see
where pretending goes