Dear Mommy

   i am your Gray baby

but please let me spell it Grey.

i always joked about it, to tell the truth,

but Oreos really are my favorite cookies,

and even though Black is my favorite color,

i do look better in White.

on those standardized tests, i racked my brains.

Black? White? both?

somehow, even in fourth grade,

i knew no shaded bubble or bubbles would ever do.

i'm not an "Other."

call me your Grey baby,

but be sure to laugh a little,

so i know that it doesn't really matter.

when i cry, they're not Grey tears.

and when i laugh, it's not a Grey laugh.

and when i smile, it's not a Grey smile.

and when i dream, they're not Grey dreams.

so love me like you'd love any other baby.

not ignoring the Grey. and not because of the Grey.

just love me because i'm your Baby.



Note: This poem is written for and inspired by Anonymous in Beverly, author of "Stop Making My Baby Gray," in the November, 1991 issue of The 21st Century.