Poetry: I Am

I AM

By TARIK HALL’22

CONTRIBUTOR, Volume 1, Issue 1

I am black

I am black but don't get confused

I've been broken down and built back up again 

They see me and say African but I am American't

I'm dark enough to be from somewhere I've never been

I'm too dark to be part of the society I was raised in

I am

I am a product of the continuous pushing between two lands

I was raised to believe that I would succeed but the world teaches me I exist only to bleed

Fireworks only sound like gunshots to me because there's no day in July where I ever felt free

I am a great mind feeling trapped in its expanse

Trapped in the same place with no hope to advance

Placed here on this earth to sing and dance

But somewhere deeper I have to believe in a chance