Vampires and Mirrors - A Reflection on Identity

I wrote today's blog inspired by the work of Stetler (2009, as cited by Fine and Torre, 2021, p. 26).  The author comments:  "If you want to make a human being a monster, deny them at the cultural level, any reflection of themselves."

A short poem entitled, "I am Vampire."

The man in the mirror shines not in the glass.
No face and no body, no future, no past.

Not living, not dying, just not one of them.

A life as the other, rejection and shame. 

His story, his life, beyond care or detection. 
Heed the tale of the man who has no reflection.

I walk without feet so where am I going? 

I see without eyes, at what am I looking?

I breathe with no body.  I think with no mind.  

I speak with no mouth, but their words are unkind.  

What are they hearing?  What is their intention?

Asketh the man who has no reflection.

The whispers, the stories, the rumour mill, 
Their faces, their smiles with hatred are filled.

Like spears and like daggers, his spirit was broken.

Yet he mustered the courage to question the chosen.

"What have I done to deserve such desertion?"

Questioned the man who has no reflection.

Why do they fear me?  No need to be scared.
"You drink from our life-blood.  We have none to spare."

Now stricken and hunted.  "You're not one of us."
So he fades into shadows, no agro or fuss.

Deficit, difference, arithmetic reduction.  
Heed the words of the man who has no reflection.  

What once I was, I now see in them.
Identity stolen, my purpose reclaimed.
Like the master whose dinner the slave was once given.

Had him punished and into the darkness hence driven. 
"Vampires aren't born, we're made then rejected.  
Now look in the mirror.  What do you see reflected?"

Reference 

Fine, M. and Torre, M. E. (2021) Essentials of Critical Participatory Action Research, Washington, American Psychological Association