A Losing Game | Teen Ink

A Losing Game

March 31, 2019
By Mauv_Mamba BRONZE, Lacey, Washington
Mauv_Mamba BRONZE, Lacey, Washington
2 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Favorite Quote:
" Wakanda Foreva!"
- King T'Challa (2018)


Sand on the neck.

Sand on the tongue.

Sand in my eyes.

Sand in my lungs.

 

I crawl through the black sand as my body forces me to be translucent.

The unrequited love of a wasteland,

A beautifully barren harmony that’s beautifully muted.

 

Is this how I die?

Colorless under a white sun,

My faulty ideals of colorism,

I thought it was a battle that I won.

 

Seeing myself in the sand,

As it’s killing me slow,

I realize that it’s my essence leaving my body at the door.

 

Who’s ever heard of a metaphysical dilemma?

Where you’re beautifully pigmented by nature,

But labeled as a sinner?

We throw it all away believing that their beauty is our standard,

Set up by demons who get high off of deceiving us.

 

No.

 

I just made a beautifully tragic mistake that earned me a congratulations and a gold star on my face.

 


The author's comments:

This is a poem about colorism in the black community and how it pushes those with darker complexions to bleach their skin. The message of the poem is to not let the toxic ideals of people in and out of the black community influence you in ways that affect how you see yourself when you look in the mirror.


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