Helen Cottee
Drawing Lines
I was taught intolerance
But was told it was love.
I was taught exclusion
But its package had
‘holiness’ splashed in colour
And bold lettering.
I learned the rules well enough
That they handed me a pen
And allowed me to be part of the ones
Who drew the lines
Between this and that,
In and out,
Good and bad,
Right and wrong.
I drew well for a while
Until real people with real lives
Messed with the rules
And blurred the lines.
And then I didn’t know what to do
So I took my pen
And looped them in
Under the overarching rule that
Love is indeed the final word.
So they took away my pen
And used it to loop me out.
And so the second time
I learned intolerance
I was told it was love
And it broke my heart.
