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vern Apr 2019
I am a small and expressive six-year-old
I just came back from India, just a trip to visit family
I wear a bindi
My hands are decorated with mehndhi¹
I wear bangles on my arm of all different colors
I wore a little churi daar
²
And everyone teased me
“She has a disease?”
“Why is there a dot on your forehead?”
“You look funny”
A few of my friends tell me that I look pretty and they wish to wear it too.
I get a few compliments but the rest hurt
I never wore a bindi in front of them again
I washed my hands to rid the orange stains
I never wear my Indian clothes
I am a not so small and not expressive sixteen-year-old
I see music festivals, I see movies, I see the people who teased me when I was six
They wear the dots that I had worn
They decorate their hands with what they call “henna”
It wasn’t an Indian holiday
I’m a little hurt
Why was I teased?
But they are praised
“It’s aesthetically pleasing?”
“The bindi is indie”
Do not tease me for my culture
And then take it for your own praise
Is that even fair?
Do you think that’s fair?
some thoughts about cultural appropriation
1. henna in intricate patterns
2. an Indian outfit prominent in Gujarat, worn during holiday celebrations
Lainey Apr 2019
I heard some sad news
About a young teen
His Mum turned off his life support machine.
When I gave my condolences and she poured out her grief
You would think that this woman would feel some relief
But she turned to me bleakly and said
“ All my days, I will never forgive myself, lost to disgrace”.
I asked her why she felt compelled to such blame? Self recrimination, regret and shame?
She stated in earnest and her tone echoes still
“ The one machine I didn’t turn off has killed.”
I pledged from that day if I saw any signs
that my loved ones were victims of hurt by design
I’d tell them to switch off
Pull out the plug
Switch off the bully
Cut off the ****.
Your life is precious
don’t let haters thrive
Switch off for now and stay alive.
Natasha Caroline Apr 2019
I dont know how long its been to brush my hair because i loved it
I dont know how long its been to take a selfie and feeling pretty
I dont know how long its been since i feel good about my self

I look at the mirror to find disgust
Look how unpretty she is
Look at those fat
Look at those acnes
Look at how big that nose
Look at how wide that forehead

She wanted to look good on that lipstic, yet they said she look like a clown
She wanted to look good on that outfit, yet they laugh at her
And she wears lousy outfit
And she forgets how much she like those lipstic
And then she began to wish to dissapear
She wish to be forgotten
She wish to be gone
Perdue Poems Apr 2019
Whispers fill the air
They fall on straining ears
Who want to hear the reds and blues
Of those who are not there

Smirking with delight
They draw close and near
Looking at the figure lone
Their snickers left in night

Crafting yet smiling
They turn and greet their (friend)
Loner, who is statue still
Is warmed by their lying

but unknown to the figure lone
His friend had drawn his blade
And left it in his back
For everyone to see.
Tramel Griffith Apr 2019
as my body gets covered in the bruises from your red fists,  

kaleidoscopic galaxies form upon the melanin of my skin.  

as each blow absorbs like rain to soil, another galaxy explodes,  

reaching towards infinity.
Tramel Griffith Apr 2019
Every time your red fist touches my melanin canvas,  

it leaves a bruise that floats upon the surface of the skin,  


and I connect the dots of those marks,

making constellations out of falling scars  


that explode into kaleidoscopic galaxies,

reaching toward infinity.
Essen Apr 2019
i'm writing this on my phone since i can't seem to get up today, i'm still in bed

i'm sure you're sick of hearing it, so sick of me, and you just want to move on

i guess i can't blame you now, even if it's killing me, i can't stop thinking

your friendship meant a lot to me, enough that its absence is deadly

i'm not the person i was when we were friends, or even before lich

i don't know who i am now. i'm not who i want to be though

these months have broken me and when i thought we were cool, well...

we weren't, apparently. was that your idea or...

was that hers? i can't tell where you end and she starts

if you want to help, abandonment's not help

if you care about me, don't leave me here

if you're not her, don't make fun of me

these aren't demands, it's me begging

begging for your forgiveness

begging for your mercy

i don't... i don't know...

what to do too

i just know

i miss

you
lila, i doubt you even check this anymore, but i'm not who you're saying i am. i think deep down you know that.
Toxic yeti Apr 2019
Why to you
Have to come into my life
Ruin my dreams
And fool with my head

Why do you
Have to come into my life
And tear down my trade centre
That is my self esteem
And give a hard life

Why
Do you
Take me to the edge of
My sanity and pull
Me back and
Torment me more

I don’t want you in my life any more.
Poetress2 Mar 2019
She walks to grade school,
sack lunch in her hand;
Dressed in old, tattered clothes,
that a Flea Market had.
~
She hangs her head low,
don't want them to see;
The bruise 'neath her eye,
which is now blue and green.
~
Her shoes do not fit,
they're too large for her feet;
So she stumbles along,
then falls to her feet.
~
Since her lunch yesterday,
she's had nothing to eat;
She sheds a small tear,
which runs down her cheek.
~
Children pass by her,
they point as they laugh;
And under her breath,
she lets out a gasp.
~
She despises those bullies,
for the things that they do;
So she quickly runs home,
grabs a gun from Dad's room.
~
She rushes to school,
she'll make them all pay;
So she guns down nine children,
uncontained is her rage.
~
A teacher subdues her,
wrestles her to the ground;
Her killing spree's over,
yet she makes not a sound.
~
Nine children lay dead,
everyone is in shock;
They all learned a lesson,
No one's to be mocked!
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