RED

Red was the prohibited colour of my childhood

No red on projects,
No red on books.
No red on bodies,
No red on looks.

We avoided the red pen,
The teachers focused on the same.
And there went our childhood,
With all of society to blame.

Then came college,
The red peeking through with shame.
We danced and sang,
And allowed red in the frame.

Talks of the prohibited,
Cultural identifications,
Epiphanies, oh simple epiphanies,
And genuine rebellions.

Now red is ours,
Ours to write with,
Ours to hold,
Ours to wear with pride,
Ours to mould.

Red is ours,
After years of captivity
After rules; obedience
But it is not the red of dictators anymore,
It is the red of our Freedom
It is the red of our Youth.

~~~

I wanted to express, through this poem, how I had to rediscover the colour RED because I had lost it in my childhood-due to the narrow-mindedness of society And RED for me is being confident and bold and everything that adulthood implies. Red lipstick, red dress, red hair, a beautifully red attitude is what I now embrace and I am proud of it