How to be born in a country that measures your blood in their hands:

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A bunch of stickers, the most prominent of which says "Love Obstbrand; Hate Racism" — Photo by Bruno Figueiredo on Unsplash

“What, for example, is born in England, but is never, not even on a cloudy day, English?”

—Bhanu Kapil

You must live
In the footnotes of a one-drop rule. 
Or blood quantum. Remember, 
Never both. You must pull out 
Your heart
In exchange for a card. Antithesis 
To citizenship. Spit
At the border or they will send troops 
And Custer look-alikes.
Always both.
And they will do it 
Anyways. You must know
That we never wanted to be here 
Either: Ghost
At the threshold. On the mantel, 
Or kneeling
On a butter tin. I will teach you 
How to steal your insides
Back. I will show you 
What I know.

Kinsale Drake

(Diné) is a poet, playwright, and performer based out of the Southwest. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Poetry, Poets.org, Best New Poets, The Adroit Journal, MTV, Teen Vogue, Time, and elsewhere. She recently graduated from Yale University, where she received several prizes, including the Academy of American Poets Prize.

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