“If you see me…will fewer people die?”

If you see me,

hijab and overalls,

laughing and 

scribbling poems and 

making videos and

waving from behind the wheel…

If I am an open book and

answer all your questions and 

my kids play with your kids and

we swap book recommendations and

wait in line at the same coffee shops…

Could you see me as

Muslim and neighbor?

Not scary,

Not a threat,

Not something to

be crushed out of 

existence?

If you see me,

maybe you will soften,

maybe you will think twice

about that news story,

maybe I will become human

and not a caricature.

If I stay right here

where you can see me,

maybe you will feel those 

tiny shifts and maybe 

one less person

who prays like me

will be murdered. 

I don’t know if it 

will matter but 

I have to try.