Vendor Poetry

Neighborhood Health Downtown Clinic

March 12, 2021

JEN A.

Maybe it was because I’m poor

Maybe it was because I’m old

Maybe it was because I’m female

Maybe it was because I’m nobody

They lured me with the promise of Moderna They injected J&J instead

They didn’t ask if I had moral reservations They denied me the dignity of advised consent

I am left still vulnerable

I am left a prisoner in my room

I am left so, so angry

I am left betrayed

TENNESSEE’S OPEN HEART

JEN A.

I am most fortunate

To know some of the best people

I have ever met in my entire life

Right here in Tennessee

Their kindness, respect, and care

Never ceases to amaze me

I’m a stranger on the street

In many ways adrift, unmoored

I haven’t measured up I

’m nobody

Yet when I look up from down here

There’s Tennessee smiling down on me

Extending a hand

Sending me a book

Helping me up when I fall

Respecting me as a person

When I rise so does Tennessee

Embrace our best

Don’t be lured by lies and prejudice

Remember who we are Tennessee

Neighbors with open hearts