To Each His Own 

D. Bendu Massaquoi

to each, his own.

that's what they say

when they don't want to argue anymore

when the table is full of opinions

and you're too tired to find your own spoon in the pile

to each his own 

meaning: you keep your reasons for staying small,

i'll keep my hunger.

and hunger finds its own spoon

they say it like a period at the end of a fight

like a door slamming on a room

where no one was listening anyway

like a bus full of noise—

voices in my head 

shouting 

not listening

but what if your own is not a preference?

what if your own is survival 

cut to fit a world that never measured you? 

to each his own.

fine.

keep your own.

i'll keep what's left of mine

Bio: D. Bendu Massaquoi is a Liberian who writes when the weight becomes too heavy for silence. She is a recipient of the Liberia National Academic Excellence Award, and volunteers with Messenger of Peace Liberia. Her work is rooted in exhaustion, hunger, and the quiet refusal to disappear.