“Black,” by WITS Student Anisa Rae Robinson
December 14, 2015
Black
My color is the color of absence,
silence. The memory of something
you thought was there,
but now it’s gone.
The color of your mind
when you’re in a deep rest.
The color of shadows that follow
you everywhere you go.
My color tastes bitter and icky.
My color is lovely.
My color is fear.
My color is anger.
My color is disappointment
My color is lost, waiting to be found.
My color haunts people’s lives everyday.
I am the color that late people see as they rest.
I am the color of grief. I am the color
that keeps you depressed and lonely.
I am the color that makes people feel frightened
as they close their eyes asleep.
I am the color of death, waiting to catch my next victim.
The color of how people saw things
back in the day.
I am the color of pride.
I am the color of strength.
I am the color of fists in the air
fighting for justice.
I am the color of nothing.
I dance across the night sky.
I am the color of nightmares. The colors
of dreams and good thoughts never get through me
no matter how hard they try.
I am the color of absence
I am the color of silence
I am the color of fear
I am the color of pride
I am the color of nothing.
Anisa Rae Robinson wrote this poem while a student at Washington Middle School, with WITS Writer-in-Residence Rachel Kessler. She read it to open for Srikanth Reddy when he spoke as part of SAL’s Poetry Series on December 1, 2015.