It’s like flipping a switch;
Moments ago I was a smiling girl,
Gaily laughing with one of her friends
And in the blink of the eye,
I became one of them;
No longer was I smiling, my eyes were intense,
My hips swayed and I walked with sexual power,
No longer the girl and not quite yet a woman,
I changed in just a moment,
Lost in the times and expectations,
I talk slang just as much as I speak eloquently, perfect manners seem dull next to thug passion.
My music becomes louder, movies become darker,
My heart is cold and my teeth are artificially white and professionally straight,
A blend of both worlds, rejected by both;
Too dark to be white, too white too be black,
I am both coveted and hated,
My skin, caramel and smooth, unblemished by chains but still absent of voice,
Thick, curly hair, trimmed and permed,
Mocked and envied,
I am a chameleon of the post-civil war era,
Blending and adapting, when opportunities arise, I hide what’s truly mine,
My culture, my history, my scars,
For the white-washed world of horrors-
Taken away as I check one race instead of the other,
Where do people like me go when the world splits in two,
And the caramel babies have to choose sides?
Your topic is very real, I enjoyed how you explored it to the last. Though I cannot speak from experience, from your poem I felt the chameleon feel, and the in between feel with it.
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Thank you! I feel like everyone feels like “chameleon” in there life, whether it is race or your identity and I wanted to express it.
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You succeeded. It is true, we are all chameleons in some respect.
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😀
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I love this….!!
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Thank you so much 😀
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