Double Bind: Too Similar and Yet Too Different

By Anna Krause

 

Of course you can!
I have every confidence in the world in you.
It looks great.
Oh, I'm sure nobody noticed.
The people skills can change.
Just think positive.
You're a smart girl.

No, folks,
I'm not like you.
I don't want compliments.
I'm not normal.
You may not see it, but I do.
I only want understanding.
We all want what we can't have.

You'd be so good at this if only
you would look at customers
while they speak,
and still process their words
well enough to answer quickly,
giving them the information they really want,
not literal answers to the questions they ask.

If only I had a different brain?
They're not asking the difficult, you understand:
only that I change every atom of my DNA
so I can be part of their world,
on their terms;
give myself enough oxygen at birth;
trade my engineer dad for a socialite.

Seems like anybody would know to do that.
You need to learn how to work as a team.
You should be able to do exactly what we do,
exactly the way we do it.
I'm marking you down as negligent
until you learn to converse
in a manner that pleases your peers.

Our interests should be your interests.
Get married!
Go to rock concerts!
Well, OK, then -- classical, if you insist.
But everybody needs noise and crowds,
so dose yourself today.
Wear uncomfortable clothes, and we may begin to accept you.

I'm happy enough.
I've lived in this quirky body
long enough to be used to it.
You're the one with the problem.
Diversity is fashionable,
so I'm in style for once.
Because I look like you, you refuse to understand.