A picture is worth a thousand words

So I’ll use a thousand words to paint you a picture

500 words to open your eyes

499 to keep them open

And one to make you move

And since the world as been polluted with words

I’ll make these biodegradable

Organic symbols seared into your mind

And use a few of my recycled phrases

So you can free associated their history

So, Let me set the stage

This is my first picture for you.

Imagine blue words

Soft, subtle connotations

And deep green definitions

And let them surf through your

Mental images

With high-definition

Vernacular

Make these words vivid in your mind

Let them seep into eyes

Permeating your pupils

Like pixels in the camera of your

Soul

Let these words suck you in

Let it take you back

Let the light open your eyes

In the background of this painting

Is your typical middle of America

Suburban Classroom.

All the tables except one are neat

And well organized

The sparkle pens

And GI Joe lunch boxes

That sit on the polished off-white desks

Are all arranged with military precision

Outside the window

You see a roughly

Assembled gang of smiling white faces,

Their clothes disheveled from the first

20 minutes of recess,

rough housing while playing

smear the queer

the same games their fathers played

With the same names they didn’t notice

And they’re smiling the smile of happy childhoods

And happy families

Inside the classroom

Among the pictures of presidents

A picture of an immigrant

Family amazed by the sight

Of the Statue of Liberty

And the standard

Inaccurate paintings of

Columbus “Discovering America”

And the First “Thanksgiving”

You see a beautiful young girl

With her long hair pressed and permmed

Like raponsel, or Cinderella

A beautiful young girl with her pink Hannah Montana shirt

Sparkling jeans

And a white sweater in june to cover her arms

She’s sitting and drawing a picture of her family

Mommy, Daddy, Dawn and her.

She’s the only one in her family with blonde hair

She is a beautiful girl

She is a black girl whose eyes weren’t quite blue enough.

A mahogany child whose eyes weren’t quite blue enough for recess

Not quite blue enough for friends

Jasmine’s were not quite blue enough to smile

Because Wendy doesn’t have black gums

And even though this painting is a vivid one

Even though the colors are vibrant and real

Even though she stands out in sharp contrast

Of the stark and sterile room

Devoid of truth and color

In five minutes she is going to

Go to the bathroom again

And wash her face to rub off the colors

The million beautiful shades of brown

That seems to choke her

And chain her to her desk

Day after day after day

She sits inside to keep her skin light

She sits inside so she can draw her fantasies

She sits inside to color her eyes blue