Whitewash me (la) 9.
<This poem I composed for my AngloAmerican Modernist Poetry class of 2018. I also included an explication as footnote so that the teacher had background knowledge of my childhood and coming into age.>
Turn my skin fair and my curly hair
Straight.
Give me privileges only you know,
Teach me how to appropriate it, all
I don't own, yet I reclaim as mine.
I wanna know how it feels to be white,
Criticize blacks and yet
(Go to the beach to get tanned).
Teach me, 'cause
Such atrocities are hard to acquire
(Yet they seem to come with your natural fire)
And perpetuate your throne.
Me (la) nine










