Paradigm

I was born to two immigrants

Who knew why they were here

They were happy to pay taxes

For the schools and roads

Happy to be here

They took it seriously

Just like a job of citizenry

My mother went campaigning door to door

And holding to her hand was me

Cause I was just a girl in a room full of women

Licking stamps and laughing

I remember the feeling of community blooming

Of democracy happening

But even though my parents were cool

I had to teach myself to see

All that stuff that got lost

On its way to church

All that stuff that got lost

On its way to school

All that stuff that got lost

On its way to the house of my family

But something was not lost on me

Teach myself to see each of us

Through the limbs of forgiveness

Like we're stuck with each other, god forbid

Teach myself to smile

And stop and talk to whole other color kids

Teach myself to be new in an instant like the truth

Is accessible at any time

Teach myself its never ever one or the other

It's a paradox in every paradigm

Overall

In my chest pocket was my house key

And my quarter to buy lunch

And on that big yellow bus

With my sign that said sucker

And I was off to the days suckering punch

But there are so many artists

Who would fall into magnet school

And I remember thinking that the long hair lady

Who called herself a poet was particularly cool

Someone stood up and gestured to a forest of options

And I found my path to joy through those trees

But I had to teach myself to keep coming back

To the view from a field from right in the middle of my peace

Oh yes

I was just a girl in a room

Full of women licking stamps and laughing

I remember the feeling of community brewing

Of democracy happening