The Amazing Shrinking White Boy

The Amazing Shrinking White Boy
For CBF and Her Army 2018
by Stephanie Mesler


You cannot bring me to my knees,
grateful to be heeled.

You won’t teach me my place with a
kick and a laugh - I won’t be trained.

Your hand on my mouth cannot silence me.
I bite and you bleed.

You think you’ve won the world,
just by being born white and male,
with a lifetime membership to the club.

You think you are the main act,
When, really, you’re just a sideshow freak,
The Amazing Shrinking White Boy,
Too drunk with privilege to see me rise.

You are blind with arrogance,
deaf to the roar of the army behind me, coming to end your reign.

In the end, you are nothing,
Not even a footnote in the history of the universe.
You will return to dust, forgotten.

You’re not the strong one.
You’re just loud.
And puny.
And scared.

I am the one who crawled back from hell
to tear off the mantle you wear to hide your frailty.
It’s not even yours; you stole it,
like everything else you ever wanted and took without asking.

I am the one who will clean up your mess and take away your keys.
I will end you once and for all.
Move along, little boy.
There’s no place for you here.

© Stephanie Mesler 2018