A Short Note to My Very Critical and Well-Beloved Friends and Comrades
June Jordan

First they said I was too light

Then they said I was too dark

Then they said I was too different

Then they said I was too much the same

Then they said I was too young

Then they said I was too old

Then they said I was too interracial

Then they said I was too much a nationalist

Then they said I was too silly

Then they said I was too angry

Then they said I was too idealistic

Then they said I was too confusing altogether:

Make up your mind!

They said, Are you militant? Or sweet?

Are you vegetarian or meat?

Are you straight? Or are you gay?

And I said, Hey! It’s not about my mind.

from Passion New Poems 1977, 1980
Beacon Press
June Jordan website

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updated 20 January 2006