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Choose: Life's Labels

by mawalz21

Choose.
Which one is “good”?   Which one is “bad”?
This one. That one.

Choose.
Which do you like? Which do “they” like?
This one.  This one.

Choose.
Which don’t “they” like? Which do you want?
That one.  This one.

Choose. 
Which one is “ugly”?  Which one is “bad”?
That one. That one.

Why?
Why is this “good”?
Why is that “bad”?

Why?
I don’t know.

Now.

Which one is you?

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discriminationrepetition

mawalz21

Madeline attends the Savannah College of Art and Design, where she studies user experience design. Originally from Waukesha, Wisconsin, she now lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with her family of six people, a dog, and a parakeet. She loves reading seven books at a time, doing math puzzles, and browsing for typefaces. Her published works include Adore: A Poetry Collection and Beneath Which Sky, the first book in her Otherworld series.

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Comments (1)

mawalz21
<p>This poem was inspired by a study that we talked about in my anthropology class.&nbsp; It was about stereotypes and how we learn them when we are young.&nbsp; Children were shown dolls with different skin colors and asked the questions that appear in the poem.</p>

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