Will Never Be

Will Never Be

I will never be white?
I will never be white—
what I am(black and white)will never become who I am.

will never be
will never be

My mother sees me as a
piece of herself as a
piece of her white heritage,
how can I be her but will never be her?

I will never be white and, oh,
oh!—how I use to want to be;
use to want to be in an easier life
use to want to be that girl with straight hair
use to want to be the me I felt inside
the me I thought was good enough—
GOOD ENOUGH
good enough to be white.

will never be
will never be

But I will never be as kind as my blue-eyed-white
brother who has always gave
me whole love and never half
and saw me as I am—his sister.

Nor will I ever be as kind as my brown-eyed-brown
father who will always give
me whole love and never half
and saw me as I am—his daughter.

my green-eyed-mother
my brown-eyed-sisters
i’ll never be wanting me to be more
than who I am—

who I am will stay the same
regardless of what I look like
or what I behave like
or what I am labeled like.
For who I am—thankfully—is not defined by
what I never will be
but by what I already am.

**Printed in the "Lanthorn Literary Edition" 4/12/2010