What the Brown Girl Wants | Teen Ink

What the Brown Girl Wants

November 27, 2011
By Powerpoet BRONZE, Des Plaines, Illinois
Powerpoet BRONZE, Des Plaines, Illinois
2 articles 0 photos 1 comment

Favorite Quote:
"The very things that hold you down, are going to lift you up". ~ Timothy Mouse from Dumbo


The brown girl wants not to be seen
but heard.
She wants her voice to travel the seven continents of the world
Speaking of beauty and justice.
The brown girl wants a voice.
The brown girl doesn’t want to--
Do math, study science
get into the medical field,
Become a caged pharmacist
Like her mother suggests.
The brown girl wants to speak her feelings.
The brown girl doesn’t want to let her parents down.
But report cards are her tickets to trouble
Because numbers and graphs
equations and maps
just won’t do for the brown girl.












The brown girl just doesn’t know
what to do anymore.

The brown girl wants no labels.
The color of her skin
doesn’t need to be associated with curry.
She doesn’t need to be called Desi
Just because she’s an Indian.
She just wants you to say her name
with a meaning











Her name means good qualities



So whether you whisper her name, or shout it





Say her name carefully like it’s a prized jewel

The brown girl
Wants to sit by her window
And stare at the sky
Darkening
As the sun says goodbye
And the stars glisten lighting up the night




The brown girl wants to write poetry under the moon.





The brown girl wants a little sun
she wants to go to the park with her friends,




And laugh with them till she gets abs




Get her hands sticky while





melted drops of ice cream are falling down her chin
Swing till her hands bleed
From grasping the chains to stop herself from falling
She wants to go for morning walks




And hear the silent sounds of no traffic




While the wind caresses her cheeks




Making them blush red from the cold
She wants her mother to stop worrying
About the bad boys smoking down her street.




She wants her mother to stop worrying that someone might spit swear words in her face

When going
somewhere




She wants her mother
To stop
Worrying.

The brown girl wants a little space to sprout,
A little time to think,
The brown girl wants to be somebody
She doesn’t want to be just the “brown girl”
She wants to be a poet
She wants to be an inspiration
Grow up,
and help kids get outta the ghetto.
She wants to expand on her inner creativity
Give her an brush, and she’ll paint you a city





Give her a pen, she’ll write you a poem





The brown girl wants to fly





She wants to escape the cage of chaos





Escape the expectations and rules





And fly towards the illusions




that put her to sleep at night




Of hopes & dreams and everything more


The author's comments:
This piece is about a cultural struggle, a brown girl is going through, the stereotypes placed upon her, and the pressure she has from her parents to work hard. In the end the brown girl wants to dream and be herself.

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This article has 3 comments.


on Dec. 13 2011 at 6:35 pm
Powerpoet BRONZE, Des Plaines, Illinois
2 articles 0 photos 1 comment

Favorite Quote:
"The very things that hold you down, are going to lift you up". ~ Timothy Mouse from Dumbo

Thanks! Appreciate the love.

shaq96 SILVER said...
on Dec. 13 2011 at 7:54 am
shaq96 SILVER, Newton, North Carolina
8 articles 0 photos 4 comments
Wow I really liked this. You are very talented!!!

on Dec. 11 2011 at 7:46 pm
thats koolio