You/Us

I was touched to write this poem because of the prevalence of “anti” in the news.  When this was covered on my local TV station about the incidents against Asian Americans, an Oriental woman made the comment, “Why are they hurting us? They like our food.” The four stanzas below represent the gifts we have received from these four persecuted groups. Of course there could be other stanzas about other groups but brevity is the soul of wit.  When I was a child we ate at a Chinese restaurant.  In those days, places handed out books of matches gratis. On the ones given out at that establishment, it was written: “Life, like a cookie jar, would soon be empty if we only took out and didn’t replace the cookies.”

You like our food
You use our technology
Your leave your dry cleaning with us
You seek our cheap prices
WHY DO YOU HATE US?

You let us clean your homes
You let us raise your children
You dance our dances
You like our music
WHY DO YOU HATE US?

You read our books
You watch our TV shows and movies
You benefit from our discoveries
You accept our charity
WHY DO YOU HATE US?

You wear our fashions
You are beautified by our abilities
You enjoy our talents
You celebrate our creativity
WHY DO YOU HATE US?

Maybe you just hate you.

Read more by Ada Mark Strausberg.