DON'T CALL ME...

You don’t get to call me narrow minded

Unless you too have broadened your horizons

Hopped on and off planes

To places far off

Cultures extreme

You don’t get to call me narrow minded at all

You don’t get to call me uneducated

Unless you have read a fucking book yourself

One, just one book

Or learned how to research, write reports

Or critically review information handed to you

You don’t get to call me uneducated at all

You don’t get to call me opinionated

As if you haven’t loved it for 20 years

Like you haven’t taken from debates with me

Grown through my vantage point

And embraced this quality all along

You don’t get to call me opinionated at all

You don’t get to call me arrogant and ignorant

When I decline an invitation

To further discuss a hot-button topic

In an attempt to salvage a friendship

A friendship of 20 years

You don’t get to call me arrogant and ignorant at all.

You don’t get to call me rude and disrespectful

When I request that you stop mansplaining

My feelings to me. 

They are my feelings.  Mine, not yours!

Stop talking over me about how I feel

You don’t get to call me rude and disrespectful at all.

So now, you don’t get to call me

You don’t get to call me at all.