Colors | Teen Ink

Colors

January 4, 2014
By Carly_Elizabeth PLATINUM, Othello, Washington
Carly_Elizabeth PLATINUM, Othello, Washington
39 articles 0 photos 131 comments

Favorite Quote:
"And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it."
Roald Dahl


We learned about colors in school.
Blue for the sky,
Green for an apple,
Yellow for the sun you see up high.

A boy told me of another color.
One that defined me.
I have never heard of it,
but it made me feel uncanny.

I told my mom of this color
and how that color was me.
She told me that it didn’t matter,
but sadness in her eyes, I could see.

The next day we learned of a new color.
Brown for the color of dirt.
The boy said both colors were me,
and the words he said hurt

He told me I was the color of dirt,
therefore that’s what I am.
I didn’t believe him at first,
and to cry, I began.

When I went to Mom and Dad,
and saw that they were not
the same color I was,
I became very distraught.

They were pale and elegant.
Like light powdery snow.
And I was dark and dirty.
Like the ugly mud I know.

I began to believe the boy's story
that I was only but a color.
And soon the pain had gotten to me.
My insides turned sour.

I screamed to know who I am
and who will I become
if a color is what defines me.
Society had surely won.

When I looked around me,
I saw that I was the only one
that had resembled dirt.
The love for myself I had was none.

I was the color of dirt,
therefore that’s what I am.
At least that’s what I believed,
until someone grabbed my hand.

That someone pulled me from the dirt
And simply brushed me off.
They told me to stop crying
with a funny little scoff.

They took my hand and told me
that what the boy said isn’t true.
I am not just a color,
“No more than I am you.”


The author's comments:
I'm a black girl adopted into a white family and being the only black person in my small ragtag town meant I got my fair share of hardships haha.

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This article has 6 comments.


on Feb. 15 2014 at 8:29 pm
Carly_Elizabeth PLATINUM, Othello, Washington
39 articles 0 photos 131 comments

Favorite Quote:
"And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it."
Roald Dahl

Thank you so much for reading! And yeah that totally made sense. Thanks for the feedback!

on Jan. 27 2014 at 11:08 pm
cecchmate BRONZE, Menlo Park, California
3 articles 0 photos 25 comments

Favorite Quote:
"A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in."
-Greek proverb

I think this is really awesomel! Great job - it's a super creative, not-too-harsh way of hitting on a hard subject. It doesn't make you want to cry (which is good in my opinion), but sends you on this journey that starts off really furrow-your-brow sad and then leaves you with this sweet hopefulness at the end. Haha, that probably made no sense... oh well :P Anyways, the only things I would change about it is that towards the end (middle to end) it starts feeling less rhythmic and veers a bit off from your established rhythm at the beginning. I do that all the time with my poems, and I find that just rewriting stuff (as painful as it sounds) after a while away from it can really bring some interesting stuff to the table. Anyways, final consensus: Really sweet, uplifting, awesome poem! :)

on Jan. 27 2014 at 6:33 pm
Carly_Elizabeth PLATINUM, Othello, Washington
39 articles 0 photos 131 comments

Favorite Quote:
"And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it."
Roald Dahl

Thank you so much for reading

Alycia. BRONZE said...
on Jan. 26 2014 at 9:40 pm
Alycia. BRONZE, Lower Gwynedd, Pennsylvania
4 articles 8 photos 41 comments

Favorite Quote:
“Our lives are not our own. We are bound to others, past and present, and by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future.” -- David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

I love the use of colors to depict racism and discrimination. Great job!

on Jan. 26 2014 at 3:50 pm
theblondechick GOLD, Kingsport, Tennessee
14 articles 0 photos 104 comments

Favorite Quote:
I want to live and feel all the shades, tones, and variations of mental and physical experience possible in life.
And I am horribly limited.
-Sylvia Path

What a wonderful poem. It was so bittersweet!

IMSteel BRONZE said...
on Jan. 26 2014 at 12:50 pm
IMSteel BRONZE, Wallhala, South Carolina
2 articles 0 photos 128 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Learn from Yesterday, live for Today, hope for Tomorrow" - Albert Einstein

"Brevity is the Soul of Wit" - The Which

I love this poem! I've often thought those same thoughts about racism. Keep writing and don't let anything get you down!