Recognition

Oppression is always there, I tell X, the No is always there, we’ve established that. What we need is recognition. But by whom? You don’t want recognition, he tells me. it just makes it worse, trust me. Remember how they recognised me? It’s best not to know, not to listen, not to be listened to. Just keep babbling to no one in particular or you’ll get in trouble. They’ll see you like they saw me, and soon they’ll make themselves known, you might even see them, like I did, and then all hell will break loose. You don’t know shit, do you? he says. You won’t know the difference between recognition and oppression. They’ll come after you like they’re coming after me and you’ll wish you never stuck your head out in the first place. It’s like those lights that come on in the night when you walk onto someone’s property, he says. You’ll be lit up and have to scutter back into the dark only you won’t be able to because the light will follow you.