The following..

is an assignment for my multiethnic instruction class. I had some constraints (4 sections: cultural origins, background, personhood, and desired role in relation to cultural diversity--all in metaphors). Point being--I was surprised by how much I enjoyed writing it.

I Am

I began across the great divide, in fields of red and yellow flora

Propelled by the whoosh of oscillating giants,

Restless, leather faces were ready for new life

Drawn by the call of lady liberty and the western horizon

Determined to stake a claim on the barren heart of opportunity

I come from a dream world where the plays the thing

Afternoons spent acting out fantasies of my future, by making up stories of the past

All the while these ingrained dreams unknown to those at the dinnertable,

Our centerpiece of evening table talk and persistent prayer.

My father’s hymns shrouded us three cherubs, My mother’s patchwork of maternal mercy

Wrapped us up, making our pioneer clan a clenched fist, unable to pry apart

I am an unschooled theorist, a purposeful ponderer in an adrift world

Lost in a labyrinth of voices and questions I don’t have quick answers for

Looking for holes in the bushes where I can escape unscathed

I am a girl trying on her mother’s red pumps

Eager to fill roles I’m not ready for

I am a tightrope walker, balancing my youthful dreams with jaded reality

Focusing on the ringmaster with the crown of thorns before me,

Allowing him to be my guide and source of joy under the glaring stage lights of adversity

I want to be truth in a world of broken, ambiguous moral rules

I want to be an empty page, where stories can be recounted and valued

I want to be a raised hand in the back of the hall that asks why, and then demands a better explanation

I want to be an alarm clock to those sleeping peacefully in beds of ignorance

I want to be compassion and understanding

I want to be light in a crooked world