From tan to brown, to black and back again
© REDCAT
Every shade but white
You say we’re worth different, due to sight?
I can’t possibly have heard you right?
There are NO human races
Just different phenotypes
No master people, to rule us all
Just insatiable power hungry ego blight
Don’t take the bite
Use your heart, not sight
Shine a revealing light
Give compassion, not spite
Systematic injustice fight
Because in the end
When we go to that long night
Beneath the skin
We’re all alike
Written for Poetics: Black History Month at dVerse.
As you know by now, I like to make my pieces musical or with a beat. So this time I really tried to write something made for reading out loud.
The nerve to do so in front of others, is a long way off, but I have started to play with the idea of recording readings. Even though hearing/seeing yourself on tape can be a truly cringe worthy experience. :-)
![Tim Green from Bradford [CC BY 2.0]](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Forty_shades_of_green_(2789631407).jpg){kind=link}
As an old actor and open mic poet, I assure you this piece would work well being read aloud. Keep pushing yourself; reading or performing your own words is very rewarding.
every shade but white – this alone speaks volumes
your are right… it is not about skin color, it is about the desire for power and control!
I love the rhythm in this poem – you’re right, it is great for reading aloud! I like the way it speeds up with the imperatives, and the line ‘When we go to that long night’ stretches out.
So true! Love this line …’Just insatiable power hungry ego blight…’. Underneath it all, we’re all the same. Good one!
Reblogged this on From guestwriters.
Like the rhythm a lot and the important thought that human races don’t exist. If we could just live up to that
That is certainly a musical verse, with its lovely rhythm. A significant message too. Well penned!
We’re beautifully different shades of the one human race…a song worth singing, a message worth beating.
Under the skin we’re the same indeed, a poem that speaks to the question – why do we dualise?