PoemsBrowse PoemsSlamsFresh DropEchoes
LearnWriting TipsPoetry TermsPoets & ArtistsBooksFor Teachers
ExplorePoetry GenomePoem MapEchoesTake ActionGroups
AboutWrite a PoemDonateSign UpLog In

A Color Worth Being Shaken


Mistaken
 
Always shaken
 
We move because we're told 
 
But it's getting old
 
Tired of these rules
 
The tools
 
They say, the tools to life
 
To growing and succeeding
 
To living and competing
 
Jump, run, and go
 
They say it but really though 
 
What do they mean
 
What to they see in the unseen?
 
The hidden scars
 
The ones behind bars,
 
Me and you, you and me
 
Where else can we be
 
But misunderstood
 
Never even heard
 
They shake us
 
Trying to get their point across 
 
But it doesn't change us
 
Firm in our roots 
 
No budging these boots
 
These shoes
 
Oh there's another story
 
Another glory, you see
 
It's you it's me
 
But all they see 
 
Is what's underneath
 
No, not what's beneath just underneath the clothes
 
The skin the color and kin
 
No wait I'm mistaken again
 
They don't see actually 
 
They are blind, matter of fact-ly
 
Instead of what's beneath
 
Of what's within
 
They see the stains dripping
 
They see when we're sinning or tripping 
 
Messing up 
 
Giving up
 
No.
 
Don't give in
 
Don't give up
 
Not to them, not to us.
 
We allow them to use us
 
Abuse us
 
Betray us 
 
And destroy us
 
We lie and amazingly we get by
 
One at a time.
 
Losing that battle 
 
Losing our sight
 
Not a physical being
 
But an emotional feeling
 
The one that brings you to your knees
 
The kind that rips your heart from your chest 
 
Still, we lie, saying it's our best
 
Afraid of disappointment 
 
Of really showing our colors
 
Black, white, yellow, red
 
Why does it matter what colors we shed?
 
Check the box, they tell us.
 
Mark the ethnicity that confines us
 
The age that undermines us
 
The gender that defines us. 
 
But why, we ask.
 
Why should we be told
 
What to do..
 
Who to hold
 
Last time I checked,
 
We didn't need to disinfect 
 
When a black hand touched white skin. 
 
So pick up your jaw
 
We don't listen to it all
 
You can persist
 
But it will be dismissed,
 
Let us coexist
 
In love or in hate
 
Whatever it will take
 
It's done 
 
But has it even begun
 
No looking back!
 
It'll take them aback 
 
We attack
 
With words with meaning
 
Worth intervening. 
 
They fight us
 
Again try to destroy us
 
Backing their cruelty, their heartlessness
 
Blaming us for the decisions we've made
 
But we're know longer afraid 
 
For we know we have not betrayed
 
No we have succeeded.
 
No, we have exceeded!
 
The goals we set 
 
We crossed,
 
We embossed.
 
Showing them that we cannot be defined by a color,
 
A race,
 
A gender,
 
Or a face
 
No.
 
No longer mistaken
 
But now they're the ones who are shaken.
 
 
 
 
 
©All Rights Reserved

Something wrong with this poem?

Share

Replies are closed for this poem.

chasshepp2014

View all poems →

Your Poem's Voice

See what makes your poem unique — its voice, energy, themes, and the literary traditions it draws from.

Comments (0)

No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts.

Log in to leave a comment.