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Poetry: Race

by Christopher Kendalls

Created on: October 01, 2008

Is my worth a function of my skin tone

Was there something to be said for being the same race

Why aren't we same even though we're of the same race

Why aren't we friends of each other

Why can't we help each other through

We reach out to those we're most comfortable with

Always alienating someone we're not

That everyone else thinks we get along with

Perhaps no one will know any different

Perhaps we'll keep everything at home

Yet that never happens

So when someone else speaks of self hatred

I wonder if that hatred comes from a familiar face

What happens with those in the same place

Or those that just happened to be there

That don't look exactly like you and me

Yet are for all practical purposes

Exactly like you and me

Who likes who, who's hot or not

Who sacrificed themselves

In spite of what we are on the outside

Paper bags, cheap combs and swimming pools

If I can't get my hair through it

I can buy someone else's hair

I can have hair manufactured

If I can't pass that test

Then perhaps I can dress myselfup

Wear expensive clothes and pass

Somewhere else; go into the store

What do you see, who do you see

Who owns the store, who are you buying from

So where does all of this come from

If you're a strong individual

Self-sufficient, knowledge of self

Automony, wisdom, conscientiousness

Does it matter what you look like on the outside

Or do you need parties, exclusivity, clubs

Organizations, high places to hide in

To feel better about yourself

Do I need to be excluded from those things

Cast in the outer darkness to where I can

No longer even look in, to do my own thing

Do I need a justification not to like you

Or perhaps I didn't like you anyway

Perhaps I just needed a reason

We learn it elsewhere, among other races

Among other cultures, other classes, then

We bring it home as something good and

Positive, to protect ourselves

Sort of like the fatty foods we eat

Cursed meat from animals left to their own

Devices, as we are when we're away from God

When he no longer wants to help us

Yeah sort of like that, something like it

Yet realize what we've done once it's too late

My color in comparison to your color

"I like it completely different, but not too close To home", what does that say about me, what

Can it say about you, and why do any of us

Continue to do it?

Is that what you've said, or what you think

Yet are afraid to say, we say that we would

Appreciate people "keeping it real" with us

Political correctness, let's keep it real with each other

Learn more about this author, Christopher Kendalls.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

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