Not On My Priority List Poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

It was suppose to be understood...
My feeling of being suffocated,
Had been part of an initiation!
And if I felt any discomfort,
From the smothering...
I would not be true to my roots.
Since I would not concede,
To be among those of defeated beatings!

And as I looked around,
To discover those who found...
This as an acceptance.
To shuffle and jive their way through life!
I thought it would be best,
For my own interests.
To become selected as the one...
They would ostracize!
Not thinking that this request...
Anyone would object.

Of course this had never happened before!
No one had ever requested,
To be rejected 'and' ignored?
I explained to them I had other quests.
And being suppressed by my own kind...
Was not on my priority list!
I recommended they select...
Another candidate.
One who would jump with excitement.
Without the slightest hint of protest.

In fact,
I suggested they were wasting their time.
Since their wishes to fulfill such foolishness...
Had been the furthest thing I had on my mind!
And I could not believe,
The looks I received of shock!
I guess the gossip hadn't spread...
That I had already been around quite a few blocks!
And I wasn't about...
Becoming a member of their shuffling crop!