Slam

 When I lived in an ivory tower
I studied Old English, Middle English and The History of English.
I wanted to learn
How words carried me into privilege.
 
In the midst of a lesson on Italian American
Being widespread and shamed,
A blond boy in a pressed polo and chic chinos said
“Well, those people can’t speak correctly, anyway.”
 
What criteria splits us from those people?
Consider how terrifically our words have transformed
Since Beowulf and Dream of the Rood.
 
I do not prescribe to immutable rules,
Rather to conscious cultivation.
Language is a malleable being.
We place ourselves into groups.
 
Consider, please
a group that embraces the unknown future
Instead of the steady past.
Cast yourself into the group
That fortifies us all
Not into those people, or these people, or you people,
But the people.