Summer
What is summer? Summer is the Hunger Games. A bunch of people chosen to sacrifice their lives. Not that they know it, but it seems that the only people who are chosen are the ones with skin as brown as the trees. But instead of enjoying the weather, like the trees, their summer is spent playing hide and seek with the bullets that roam, searching for anyone they can penetrate.
Summer By Shawntay Campbell
Summer is the hot smell of that corpse baking in the sun. Left out so long all the meat fell off the bones.
The weather is nice so there’s a variety of people to choose from. So, instead of choosing the flavor of ice cream, the flavor of skin is spun around until the right mixture is created.
Summer is running around, playing tag. But it isn’t fun and games cuz once you’re “it” you can’t choose someone else to take your place.
Summer is ring-a-round the roses. Where I am the rose and the hands of my oppressor are the rings that clamp so tight around the necks of all the roses, like me. A pocket full of posies where the pocket is a world where we are forced to live in harmony with people who cringe at the sight of a black man being as successful as them. Ashes to ashes Where my ashes have to meet that of my ancestors before it's time because someone took i_t upon themselves to break the rules of God and play a role indeciding whogets to live any longer. Those little brown kids, blowing in the wind leaving their families to weep in pain wondering about the life they should have had. We all fall down. Cuz the goal is to MAKE SURE my people fall To wipe us away like the sweat that rolls down your cheek after a mile run. To stand united to break us apart. To fulfill the prophecy of the white men’s God. Because my God for sure doesn’t discriminate. He made me with sugar and spice. And everything nice.
Shawntay is a Baltimore, MD, 10 th grade student.
Page 8
So nice that I still accept those who take up their blades and cut away any bit of chance I have at living a great life.
I BelongMagazine.com, Autumn 2019. All rights reserved. Published by Unified Efforts, Inc., Baltimore, MD, https://unifiedefforts.org
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs