All Nonfiction
- Bullying
- Books
- Academic
- Author Interviews
- Celebrity interviews
- College Articles
- College Essays
- Educator of the Year
- Heroes
- Interviews
- Memoir
- Personal Experience
- Sports
- Travel & Culture
All Opinions
- Bullying
- Current Events / Politics
- Discrimination
- Drugs / Alcohol / Smoking
- Entertainment / Celebrities
- Environment
- Love / Relationships
- Movies / Music / TV
- Pop Culture / Trends
- School / College
- Social Issues / Civics
- Spirituality / Religion
- Sports / Hobbies
All Hot Topics
- Bullying
- Community Service
- Environment
- Health
- Letters to the Editor
- Pride & Prejudice
- What Matters
- Back
Summer Guide
- Program Links
- Program Reviews
- Back
College Guide
- College Links
- College Reviews
- College Essays
- College Articles
- Back
The Color Line MAG
It's okay, they said
as if it were a sorry mistake Mother Nature had at the canvas
sculpting, painting in perfection, until the final layer
revealed not peach but mustard yellow.
It's okay, they said like forgiveness
like I had been born with two Original Sins
as opposed to their one
the mustard-yellow veil covering my body
cracked, twisted, suffocated by the words in their mouths.
It's not your fault, they said
that my mother tongue
the words
the sounds
that rocked me to sleep when I was born
sound like birds talking with hard stones in their mouths
sound like mustard pans falling from the sky,
hitting the hard, white asphalt they laid down.
It isn't my fault
that you cannot see substance beneath the final layer of paint
to see
Gold underneath the veil that you created.
Too deafened by the imaginary pans to hear canaries
Too ignorant to erase the lines you drew on your white asphalt
The line that divides
Me
You
is imaginary mustard yellow.
Similar Articles
JOIN THE DISCUSSION
This article has 3 comments.
...what was wrong to begin with?