An Exercise in Empathy
Yes, people should be able to write characters of other races and nationalities as early and as often as possible. I find this practice to be intertwined with how writers give the reader a look into the heads of other people. Not only is it important to give readers the chance to look at different cultures through the eyes of a protagonist but it also gives the author a chance to write outside of their comfort zone. By creating characters that are a different nationality and/or race, the authors are forced to broaden their horizons especially if they are the protagonists of their stories. By looking through a lens other than their own, it keeps the author's writing fresh and exciting while including multiple readers of different backgrounds. It can never be said that the author can truly relive the experiences of those characters, they should be able to try and understand them through their writing.
Have already eaten.
I was on the bus when
someone started combing and then
presumably braiding my hair,
it was only when I felt creamed aerosol
I thought they might have gone too far.
What was mirrored in a window, frosted cold,
had a French Aristocratic air
that looked like icing from the top of a cake.
White with blue outlines with the occasional speck of gold.
My dresser drew a finger
over my cowlicks fair
and tasted their creation.
I rubbed the icing out of my hair then
until I could see my hair arising
emerging
appearing
from the froth of smeared sugar
until only a few sweet specks remained.
The Cheese Store
You got an eye there.
Wanders around, looking for something
Not that you'd get far with that leg.
You’ve been around a lot…
Are you a detective?
I see you got a mad itch son.
Makes you clutch your sides.
A dick should shun such practices.
But never mind me,
Smear your eyes over this glass why don’t you?
See the black rut cheese.
Don’t you know, it makes tracks like that after I beat it.
Perhaps you should as well?
#EstherFlowers1