What Are You?

What are you?
demands the bag boy
as his hand makes
sweeping, circular motions
in front of his face.

I am fire and I am frail.

I am strength and sarcasm.

Demonstrative and demure.

I cry, I am human.

Who were your people?
inquires the gas station clerk
when I enter for a Mountain Dew
and a bag of Lays,
just filling up the tank
on the way home from work.

My people were healers and heretics.

Oppressors and oppressed.

Trailblazers and tyrannical.

I sigh, My people were many.

Ethnicity?
asks line 4, marked *Required
and I must check a box
or Decline to Answer.

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Vanessa Sadler is a trauma-informed Spiritual Director and Enneagram Specialist. Through her company Abide (@abidinginstory), she collaborates with clients who seek deeper abiding and a greater understanding of the ways they relate with God, self and others. Vanessa has Level I and Level II certificates in Narrative Focused Trauma Care from The Allender Center, located within the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology, and also offers Integrated Story Work to her clients along with a culture identity component.