reunion
the land accepted us
wasnʼt weighed down by our
ambiguous colors
olive brown black white
beige skin
golden curly straight brown
black frizzy hair
it didnʼt question us
ask us to choose sides
black or white
as if they were the
only two to choose from
we could stand whole
connected
to each other
without suspicious
glances-
or looks like
“ you just donʼt belong here”
or
“ I couldnʼt tell you were black”
brown, gold, black, white
hands meet
“Iʼm your cousin...”
no room for racism here
“Iʼm your Aunt, Uncle...
fragments of America-
the real America
that no one wants to see
check a box
choose a side
but donʼt acknowledge the
mixture
we cannot separate
ourselves from history
history from ourselves
seeds burgeoning from the
earth we stand
stories begging
to be told
Copyright 2008 alison hart
