Letter to Racism

​To you I dare 

At me when you stare 

Examine the curls in my hair 

The colour-my skins bears 

Shove me in a box

Label me-

Lock me- with steel locks 

To which -the key you hold 

ancestors were lazy and old 

Riches they stole

Like beauty sucked into a big black vacuum— down an empty hole

Like the soil of the earth 

We didn’t choose our birth 

Or the colour of our skin 

Or how we choose to indulge- in sin 

But still you hold that key 

you will be 

Shades above me 

In your obscure reality 

Like a haywire soul with an oblivious mind  

Who doesn’t understand, we’re all the same kind 

From earth to grave 

Can we be more brave? 

So stare at me 

Until your guilt leaves you empty 

-Aditi Shetty 

FUCK POWER

​They’re writing about Tiger Woods 

Who the fuck cares? Does that do any good? 

Iran, Palestine, Sudan, Venezuela, Ukraine 

New year - same shit- destroying like it’s mundane 

Empty will be your grave 

Are you a human that craves or becomes brave? 

Silence is possessive, when will you learn? 

Open your mouth loud - speak & Give what you earn 

Every breath is a blessing

Human kind be recessing 

Some don’t get to speak 

Children unable to reach their peak 

Privilege & Pretending; one supporting the other 

check yourself - be humble - make proud your mother 

You’re skin and bones; like all beings here 

Then Why -can’t we be sincere? 

I don’t know much 

I smoke weed; so my memory sucks 

I’m a nobody - listen to me 

This is our reality 

Blood, money, greed 

We act on an ostensible need 

Their power has no heart 

Even rationality departs 

May every step, every breath - remind you 

-To break the past road paved - so truth be due 

Karma will get their soul 

As it burns in ashes - sucked into a whole 

The earth will rejoice as nature laughs 

When the real ones walk their own paths 

-Aditi Shetty