A boy is thinner than me
And I blame myself
For not being small enough
Strange men stare at me
For more than 5 seconds
And I blame myself
For looking back
A country forced me
To smooth my mouth of
My mother’s accent
And I blame my tongue
For being so malleable
A country didn’t know how to grieve,
Blamed a religion for its fear,
But I blamed myself for
Trembling underneath my headscarf
In the first place
So don’t tell me I have no remorse
Don’t be surprised when I don’t flinch
Every time you say it’s my fault
I’ve done all the blaming for you
