With Love to Jackson Bezzant

His face looked 
different from theirs

Sunken, deformed

“Monster,” they shout

“Ugly,” “Freak” 

Instead of friends,

he is greeted 
with thrown rocks

and shoving hands

He thinks of escape

Of ending 
his seven-year-old life

Different, we say,

as we look around

Different abilities, 

different skin,

different beliefs,

different prayers,

different love,

different gender,

different species

Not like us,

different

Easy to dismiss,

to ridicule,

to ignore,

to arrest,

to kill

For some it is too late

They met their end 

at the hands of a gun,

a driven car, 

a badge of law,

someone’s plate

Those differences 
are all around us

Different smiles,

different stories,

different love,

the same pain

But peace is active

Peace is love,

compassion,
sharing,

embracing others

Not just despite 
our differences,

but because of them

Oct 2017

written for a poetry open mic as part of Akron Peace Week

inspired by this article, which I saw the morning of the event

Washington Post article on Jackson Bezzant