I'm Not Flattered

"But you don't seem like a Southerner!"
That's what they said
As if it were a compliment.
Just because
    I don't fly a Confederate flag
    wear a white sheet
    or burn crosses.
    I don't have big hair.
    I don't wear cowboy boots
    too-tight jeans
    or blue eye-shadow.
    I don't drive a truck
    or a classic Camaro.
    I didn't vote for Jesse Helms.
    I don't go to religious revivals.
    And my Southern accent is reserved for only
    the happiest occasions.

But what they don't know
Is that the South is thick in my veins
like the red clay of my home land.

If I don't seem like a Southerner
It's only because
They don't know
That a Southerner is one who
    Loves the smell of honeysuckle
    and wisteria after a rain.
    Strings beans on the porch
    listening to grandmother's stories
    and smelling her grandfather's pipe smoke.
    Goes fishing with her daddy
    and fries fish right there on the dock.
    And who knows that a walk in Central Park
    Is NOT getting back to nature.

So, "You don't seem like a Southerner"
Is not a compliment,
And I am not flattered.