Only your origins were stranger than my own

Of all the places we could have ended up

this one automatically qualified itself as

The Shittiest

Nothing made the place distinct

save its utter lack of distinction 

even the people's speech lacked it,

their syllables inseparable

Some of the kids had two names said like one

no one was sisterless or brotherless like me

and everyone had a cross necklace

they even called it Christmas break here

the last thing this town wanted to be was

God Forsaken

in my house we didn't call God Jesus

and we didn't go to church

I kept that to myself

it was cold but not snowy

there were hills but no mountains

the trees were big but bare

and The Ocean was a myth

you were gone when I arrived

but by the time you returned

I needed to know you:

the other foreigner

they gave me four different names for you

no one knew which was right

it wasn't English 

and you weren't American

you returned with painted hands

and I listened the hardest I ever had

when you told me your name

I would not be like them

within days I was in your house

which was in another country

though just down the street

it smelled of spices I knew I'd never smelled

and worried I'd soon have to eat

music came from your sattelite TV

and it sounded so purposely harsh

the nasal voices wailed as if in pain

you introduced me to a few of your gods-

their images terrified me 

but I couldn't look away

even I was shocked to see your main god

was a living, breathing man

he had an afro and wore orange

we dotted our foreheads

and played dress-up

you were the only person

I wanted to be anything like