“One nation under God, indivisible,
with liberty and justice for all.”
infested by negativity
let us hold hands as brothers and sisters
there will not be a greasy, unshaven
man at the corner pleading for money
let us strike down those who
forget the golden rule,
There will be no question at night,
are they fireworks or gunshots,
those who forget we came
from the same origin
tell me love does exist and
sleepless nights end
“For to be free is not merely to cast
off one’s chains, but to live in a way
that respects the freedom of others.”
tell me that it gets better,
Let us move the clouds of prejudice,
Revealing the luminous
path to racial justice
If there is a world, tell me
that it will be okay
tell me I am good enough
mom won’t have to worry about the bills
She’ll live in a big house,
one with many windows
Rooms for all my siblings
SAT scores do not define me
I will graduate high school, then college
home will not be a place
HPAC YOUNG WRITERS REVIEW
tell me there is a world
TO YOU
You fell under a spell, until every page
of every book screamed his name.
Happiness, hope, love, you saw his name
written everywhere. You fell in love with
one man and you thought, Is that really
what it feels like? You felt a love so strong,
you thought nothing could ever break it,
but it was your first time, so I don’t blame
you. He filled your nights with laughter
and cheer; you laughed so hard you
spilled tea all over the rug. Every time
you looked at the stain, a smirk appeared
on your face, like you thought you’d been
devious that night. You two had done
something the rest of us wouldn’t under-
stand. That’s how it all began: You were
part of a game you didn’t know you were
playing.
He came home every night
screaming and shattering glass. He
called you worthless mistake. The words
spewing out of his mouth like venom. He
had no right to talk to you that way, but
he did, and you let him. You constantly
apologized for his mistakes, for the fights
you never started. You told yourself to be
better, not for you, but for him. You hoped
that someday you would stop apologizing, stop making excuses, stop being
the woman he never wanted. In time,
you believed the excuses, the list getting
longer as the days went by. He made
excuses for missing anniversaries, for
holidays. Excuses so good, you stopped
questioning him. His deceitful lies filled
your body with scars. Scars burned by
your tears at night. You allowed yourself
to be broken down. You were so fragile.
When you think of him you
are left with the memories of her. The
nights he wasn’t with you, he spent
rubbing her shoulders, snuggled against
her. His lips pressed against her burnt
caramel skin. You watched from the
sidelines, replaying his words in your
head, believing that he needed you.
Even when he told you he stopped, it
wasn’t enough. The day she showed up
you froze. You realized the game was not
over. You watched her squeeze his face as
she leaned in for a kiss; his fingers traced
her spine. The haunting memory of his
laugh, how you no longer were his source
of happiness. Somehow you thought of
that stain on the rug, how you laughed so
hard that night. That night seemed like
it happened a century ago. You cried so
much, you almost drowned. You tried to
convince me that it was your fault. You
needed to be better. You didn’t need to
convince me, you needed to convince
yourself.
One day a man will come over
and his soft kisses will blow your scars
into extinction. He will ask about the
stain, and you will let out a hard laugh
and say, Let’s get a new rug. He will play
with your hair while you are floating
on clouds. Your palms will sweat with
nervousness every time he walks into a
room. The butterflies in your stomach
will throw a party every time his lips
touch yours. He will call you his precious
diamond. Everything else will become a
distant memory.
6 TRAIN VOLUME III: 2014–2015 | 37