*Written on 8.17.18 by Bella L.


My words are not for wasting.

The air I breathe is the same as yours
Your lily white silky smooth privilege
Is a block to your own mind
Keep asking senseless questions like

“Is black love real?”
“Why can’t all lives matter?”
And “don’t Brown parents know any better?”

My words are not for wasting.

You don’t hesitate
To tell me to appreciate
What this country is offering me
Yet your complaints
Are somehow valid

My words are not for wasting.

When I go silent
You twitch
Nervously
You throw slurs
Or comments of illiteracy
Yet you can’t fathom
That brown and black poets
Change lives through words
Through art or song
Through your own countries history
How is that for literacy?

My words are not for wasting,
So I keep these thoughts to myself
Until you can compel
Your own spirit
To do it right again
I’m tired of your flippant amens