I Don'T Wear Those Masks Poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

I'm not in it for the fashion.
Or to shake my 'booty' to the music.

I represent what I feel.
It is real,
My heritage given.

An ethnic inheritance I honor.
And not a nightclub fling,
Waiting for the weekends to binge.

To awaken with a hangover on Monday...
With an excuse to make,
As to why I am late to perform my tasks.
Not me...
I don't wear those masks!

I'm not in it for the fashion.
Or a fad to display until it fades.

What you see is 'me'...
With an idenity I carry.
And bonded I am to it like a marriage.
Only death will divorce me from this love!
Firmer than steel in cement,
I am grounded.