Exhaust

What goes around will come around.

Tolbert
Oct 27, 2021
An aerial view of buildings and grass with white exhaust fumes.
Photo by Marcin Jozwiak from Pexels

The fumes of academia instigate vehemence and apoplexy

in socially just minded folx

lending to thee expectoration of expletives

and served. Exhaust fumes.

Over and over we go

through the same comprehensive lists

to no avail. Exhaustive.

The straight, cisgendered, white, able-bodied majority

seeks to decolonize, indigenize, diversify, amplify,

and all the other heady buzzed worthy words

without including, consulting, or inviting

the not straight, not cis, not white, disabled groups

to lead, host, or participate. Exhausted.

So that we are left with an institution and system

that services thine lips to talk circles around

deep sustained roots steeped in supremacy. Exhausting.

The fortified roots have started to wither,

have begun to run out of space,

and have torqued themselves around the surrounding roots —

one by one until they all fall down. Exhaustion.

Visual representation of story on @tolbert_on_medium Instagram

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Tolbert

Librarian and Information Specialist by day. Queer writer of poetry, sensuality, personal experience, and health by night. Instagram @tolbert_on_medium #BLM✊🏿