Xenophobia

(Poetry Scales 25)

We often confuse…
     exchange… hatred and fear,
“I hate flying…
     needles… Easter bunnies… doll eyes…”
When it comes to the unknown
     or more precisely the different
a better label for our reaction
     would be… terrified.

Don’t be a child
     stomping life out of lizards.
When it comes to the other,
     even dangerous, or awry:
Tolerate, resist, learn,
     befriend, beg to differ,
But to live in fear…
     Hate is simple… and unwise.