Colored
What are you?
Call me colored but I won’t be offended.
Just means to me I’ve got more shading
Than a black and white portrait
Different shades
In one picture
But aren’t you black?
In a way
More like mahogany
Smooth almost dark brown with a red undertone
Not shiny blue black
Brown like the soil
Or tree bark
Like cardboard boxes
Like coffee and milk
Where are you from?
Not here not there
Everywhere
Where are you from?
I’m from many places around the world
But I am from my mother and father and the earth itself
Who are you?
I am me.
Mahogany brown skinned me
Who identifies with everything and everyone
Colored.
Not Black entirely, nor White
Not Asian or Latino
Nor Indian
Not entirely.
Just
Mahogany brown
Colored girl
Congratulations overdue! to Tyffany Richards, for having this poem chosen to be read at the ASAP Celebration of Young Writers at the Washington Town Hall in 2011. The poem was recently recovered and we thank Tyffany for sharing it with us.
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