Published in Medium (I Am Not a Contradiction. A poem challenging the false comfort of… | by Dr. Ivan Edwards | Physician • Poet • Minister | Oct, 2025 | Medium)

A poem challenging the false comfort of binary thinking

by Dr. Ivan Edwards

They ask me to choose.

Must I fear what they think of me?

. . . choose as if blood were a ballot,

as if heritage could be halved

without spilling truth.

They ask me to choose.

Must I fear what they think of me?

In Africa, I am not Black enough.

In America and Europe, I am only Black . . .

and not white enough.

They ask me to choose.

Must I fear what they think of me?

— but what of my white ancestry?

What of the Asian thread

woven quietly into my soul?

Must I disown them

to soothe someone else’s fear?

They ask me to choose.

Must I fear what they think of me?

I will not.

I am what I am.

A mosaic of memory,

a fusion of fire and grace.

They ask me to choose.

Must I fear what they think of me?

I carry the pulse of Kampala,

the ache of England,

the rhythm of Czechoslovakia —

each beat a legacy,

each note a name.

The whisper of winds from distant shores

does not confuse me.

It completes me.

I am not a contradiction . . .

I am a convergence.

They ask me to choose.

Must I fear what they think of me?

You wear your pride like armor.

So do I.

Not in defiance,

but in declaration.

They ask me to choose.

Must I fear what they think of me?

This is not the death of being different, mixed.

This is its resurrection.

Nations bred me.

Out of many I arrived.

Strength I carry.

Dignity I possess.

No shame.

No death.

No agony.

Need I explain?

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