I am at a conference.

“find another person you don’t know,”

“draw a picture of your favorite animal and write down three good words about them,”

The room quiets,

The video plays

The chasm of blindness opens

I hurtle toward the fire.

Just one helpful person

in that room at that time

Would have made a difference.

Smothered the embers.

The next day at the conference,

My hand raises, unnoticed

Humiliation slaps it down

Ignites the banked coals

I am not with people

I am with beings who feed the fire.

Later the same day

Laughter at a cartoon feeds the pyre

The burn weighs down my hand and I

Don’t ask for a description.

Instead I imagine being A crusading

Knight Accusing them all

Shaming

them all Passing judgement

I am rage contained, waiting to unleash my wraith against the

Ignorance, the fuel

Stoking the furnace

Burn, burn, burn

I wished for a sword of flame

A suit of armor

A crusader’s Righteousness

I would not have stood, hand raised

Asking for help

If it wasn’t needed.

I meant nothing

No one noticed

Until I disappeared.

The flames hide the pain.