First time sharing a poem with the public, thoughts / feedback?

[u/AkiraRhymes]

Foreigner

I am always a foreigner.
The words float off a stranger's tongue:
“Where are you really from?”
Words that slipped away without a thought,
Yet linger for eternity

I was born twenty minutes away,
Yet look five thousand miles removed.
My culture feels like a costume,
Dressed up for a day, unapproved.

Here, I am not one of them.
There, I am not one of them.
My learned accent is jarring,
My birth accent does not blend.

Neither here, nor there.
“You are not one of us.”
Nobody speaks of the longing we carry,
For a belonging we cannot find.

Home is where the heart is, they say.
Where is my heart?
Where is my home?

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1x88lcd/comment/phcyhnv/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1x8fido/comment/phcy0wo/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

[u/relativelyperceptive]

The opening is an excellent conflict. The "really" suggests the speakers answers are never quite accepted and the next two lines deepen the idea. The repetition in the third stanza makes the exlusion feel inescapable, not knowing where you belong even when you are physically home. The ending is my favorite, the speaker has been told that belonging should be simple but the experience speaks otherwise. That's a good choice. It's a nice poem.

[u/AkiraRhymes → u/relativelyperceptive]

Thank you so much! I appreciate it :)