Show Lots Of Teeth Poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

A race of people...
Historically intended,
To be kept lost in the wilderness...
Although consciously aware,
They have been disenfranchised...
And going along with it,
Still as time from them passes on...
Allow themselves to be defined by others.
Others who profit and benefit from their suffering.
But continue the do to pursue and endure,
Without finding identity or a strength within them...
Kept and meant.

And so they journey on seeking to please,
The ones who decide what and who they are.
As they stay on their knees and told to obey.
Although they become less significant,
This for many has been accepted as okay.
And those specifically picked to be pleasing to the eye,
To compete for 'their' master's attention...
Can be seen today fighting amongst themselves,
To get that 'photo op' with the master...
Smiling as the master approves.

'What about the ones sweating in the fields,
With a doing of this done?
In the heat and under pressure.
With a seeking of this to overcome.
Shouldn't they be here to make an appearance too? '

~Obviously they were not picked.
And the master had something to do with it.
So stand on the veranda like the others chosen.
Show lots of teeth.
The master likes that.
Who cares which of us does the work?
At least we'll take the credit AND sit at the table to eat.~