Discrimination

By Kenneth Rexroth 1905–1982 Kenneth Rexroth

I don’t mind the human race.

I’ve got pretty used to them

In these past twenty-five years.

I don’t mind if they sit next

To me on streetcars, or eat

In the same restaurants, if

It’s not at the same table.

However, I don’t approve

Of a woman I respect

Dancing with one of them. I’ve

Tried asking them to my home

Without success. I shouldn’t

Care to see my own sister

Marry one. Even if she

Loved him, think of the children.

Their art is interesting,

But certainly barbarous.

I’m sure, if given a chance,

They’d kill us all in our beds.

And you must admit, they smell.

Kenneth Rexroth, “Discrimination” from The Collected Shorter Poems. Copyright © 1966 by Kenneth Rexroth. Reprinted with the permission of New Directions Publishing Corporation, www.wwnorton.com/nd/welcome.htm.

Source: The Collected Shorter Poems (1966)

Biography

Kenneth Rexroth was born in South Bend, Indiana and frequently moved around the Midwest during his childhood. He led a tumultuous life that included being orphaned at 14, constant traveling both in the US and abroad, intense political activism, and four marriages. Largely self-educated, he is one of the most well-read poets of the twentieth century. His poems, which influenced Beat writers such as Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence . . .

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