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Brown Secrets
By Khayma Balakrishnan
A brown household has many secrets,
Akin to an unopened closet
The uncle who likes to ogle
The rich aunt who’s frugal
The daughter who eloped
The cousin who died by a rope
A brown household has many skeletons
And discussions may cause tension
The crossdressing son
The sibling who’s a peon
The abused mother
The alcoholic father
A brown household has sordid affairs
It causes the neighbors to stop and stare
The violated child
The grandmother gone wild
The second cousin, now a pregnant teen
The grandfather who’s never been seen
A brown household keeps it all hush hush
Lest they are judged, by society as such

Khayma Balakrishnan, is a Malaysian poet and educator.
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