Mentor

Or, Sometimes Some White Men Online A poem

Maybe there was a chance

For growth For understanding

And yet, and no

The way your words made me feel

Was too dirty Too strange

Not merely offended But deeply and confusingly

Absolutely insulted

I suppose It is par for the course

It is part of the territory When we strip down

When we share our stories Expecting echo chambers

From perfect strangers There’s no lining up

There’s no logic Experiences of privilege

Are no match for Experiences of reality

The ground feels different When we hit it

Even if we are both falling Even if life is life

No matter It is useless

Exposure and exposure and exposure People wish for trauma

Bleeding onto the page The screen

They want to see scars and wounds And talk about

With generic carelessness How we are all human

Be positive Focus on the kindness

Certainly oh indeed Patronizing preaching

You saw me as somehow on my knees

You said You wanted to mentor me

In between fragments of gaslighting and trivializing

I waited to see if it would get better Brand new bridges and such not wanting to be burned

I looked back Match in hand just in case

Cursor wavering over it, clicked hard Blocked bright red Blocked an end

There’s no conversation to be had When agreeing to disagree

Means your life experience is seen as normal, natural, good and right And everyone else’s is seen as standing in their own way

To get to be like you

Jenny Justice is a mom, Sociology instructor, and writer. You can follow her on Medium and at Jenny Justice, Writer. She has been recognized as a Top Writer on Medium in Poetry, Parenting, Reading, Education, Books, Racism, Feminism and Climate Change, so far.