Scholastic Spotlight: Michelle Chadraa

The L/nes That D/v/de Us Do Not Exist

Gold Key

Author: Michelle Chadraa

12^th Grade

Educator: Heather Yarber

Fargo

 Please look past the color of my skin.

It doesn’t take a magnifying glass

Or an artist’s eye

To see the light that hits

On the half-moons of our fingernails,

The cobalt rivers of our veins,

And the baby pink bumps of our tongues

Just the same.

Please listen past the sound of my voice.

I know I can’t say “Chihuahua”

Without breathing out the Hs,

Speak in the right tenses, 

Or eradicate my accent.

But still our vocal chords are shaped

Just the same.

Please see past the shape of my eyes.

Indeed they are almond shaped

And indeed they do not open

Like your French sliding doors

But the eyelashes aren’t uniform,

the tears are colorless,

And the pupils are dark with thought

Just the same as yours.

Please perceive past the folds of my clothing.

Even if I wear a cloth that covers my hair

And covers my legs, even if I wear a cap upon my head,

And even if I wear a chain with a symbol different from yours

Doesn’t mean they don’t exist and

Doesn’t mean we aren’t

Just the same inside. 

Please think past the bruises of our history

Because it has passed

Because it was done

Because it is time

To cross over our self-made partitions,

Erase the mental constructs our borders,

Nod our myriad of heads

In unison that we are all

Just the same.