Creativity641

Dear Congressman, 

The provisions of this bill are concerning, to say the least. 

I heard rumors of a great ship,

full of great people.

Did they have room for me?

I swam by the ship

and to my surprise,

I was welcomed aboard,

beckoned,

appreciated,

cared for.

How can i think,
when i sit in classrooms built by men
to teach us how to think like them,
and i try—
god, i try to conjugate freedom
in a language that was never mine,
in a room that doesn't feel like home,

I think I live for the silent and still —

The friends you made against your will.

The evening light,

The morning mist,

The impossible odds that you even exist.

They call it “the hood.”

We call it family.

They call it “ghetto.”

We call it culture.

It’s loud — but it’s home.

The ice cream truck rings at the same time every day.

crying over a simple email 

the lasts build a lump in my throat 

last time beaming onstage 

signing yearbooks 

wearing a stiff blue skirt