27 | Breaking Down Barriers

26 9 11
                                    

She had the secrets,
To life
Stenciled on her
Thigh.
Smooth silver lines
Fashioned,
By time itself.
Lines only her lover knew.
Stretch marks.
Written in her secret places.
On surfaces she,
hides
from human eyes.
Because they can't understand
the native tongue,
Lost to us
but still beautiful.
Because we still admire,
Art,
we don't understand.

She had oceans,
under her skin.
Waves.
The mark of the sea people.
A daughter of Poseidon.
Her thighs are thick,
Her hips are magical.
And she flows,
Like the currents,
Smooth.
Powerful.
But still,
some people don't...
Like
Her Cellulite.

She is a cherub.
Rosy cheeks, bright eyes,
That go dull,
Every time she eats.
She is warm and funny.
And has pockets of
Stardust,
Under her skin.
But they call her fat.
And she's not like the people,
On TV.
Or on the glossy
Paper
Of magazines.
But she's still magical.
And kind,
Even though people have been
Mean.

She had skin like black gold.
Bold.
With white teeth that shone.
A beautiful natural queen,
With a crown of fro.
Melanin.
So rich, and earthen.
People were intimidated.
By her obvious heritage.
And how powerful she looked,
As she walked with her head high.
She was beautiful.
A goddess but
That hadn't stopped the kids,
In school.
From calling her
Names.

He was light.
All over.
With parents of melanin.
His hair was white,
His lips,
His lashes,
His skin.
He felt out of place.
In his home, in the street.
He didn't feel like he belonged.
He was a black man,
Who wasn't a black man.
The names.
The names in the courtyard,
Was everything but games.
He wanted the everyone to understand,
His condition.
Instead of making him feel outcast.
Albinism is not a race.

She was not sick.
Not a terrorist.
And she doesn't hide things in her layers of clothes.
She isn't uncomfortable.
This is her culture.
It's not polite to stare.
Or ask too many questions.
Or look at her with fear.
She isn't being forced.
She covers her hair because she wants to.
And she wears that special dress because she wants to.
Respect her choices.
Respect her culture.
Respect her religion.
Don't call her curry.
Or comment on her dot.
Don't call her names.

He can see perfectly fine.
And just because,
Doesn't mean he's automatically
Good at math.
Don't befriend him to copy his notes.
Don't assume.
Don't make fun of his lunch food.
And if you even bothered,
To listen.
You'd know he's not Chinese.


♡♡♡

A/N
So many people struggle with the standards of body image.
The racial gaps between humans and the expectations of society.
That we often forget that under all that,
we are one.
Each person a special star in this vast universe of people.
Spread love instead of hate.

( dedicated to all the people who struggle to accept themselves because society has conditioned them to think they aren't beautiful. I see you. And you are beautiful to me )

♡♡♡

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