Invalid Reality (Strike One) – 8/24/18 Do not tell me it’s not real Do not push your accidental Patriarchal bullshit on me You see I will not allow you to invalidate me To tell me that when my body shakes And my nerves quake It’s not real Growing up They told us to suck it up Kids these days What’s an emotional support animal anyway? Be wary, friend Because your generation is not mine And I have reason to believe That maybe there was something in our water After Flint How can you not With children screaming for their mothers And crying for their fathers And now, they’re without their bottles Look There’s a lot of fucked up shit in this world Enough so That whenever there’s another Trayvon Martin I look both ways before I walk outside I learned while living in the south for four years To dance like crazy down the street Because no one will bother you then There are times When I wonder Why I’m so anxious about everything And nothing All at the same time Days when I think about what might happen If I stop taking my meds for one day Is the pain that runs through my body like a dagger Still real? Or was it psycho-somatic all along I’m tired Of invalidation And feeling like my invisible illnesses Are nothing more Than figments Of my broken imagination The next time You think you know What anxiety feels like Try smiling every time You’re pouring poison down your throat Every time You walk across a street Or pass a lingering unmarked SUV Oh wait You can’t Because you’re white And I’m Black And your anxiety Is not holding you back The next time Someone tries To invalidate my body My health Everything that makes me real I’ll tell them To listen to how I feel