A Limitless Sky- A Poem By Mayzie Angel

Use the formula to solve the following equation. Make sure to show all of your work.
If you’re 20% this, and 30% that plus 50% THAT, then what are you?
I begin to the solve the problem, It is only when I have difficulty that I realize that
I have never been good at math.

I have never been able to correctly identify  JUST who I am or what I am or why I am and I have never been able to pass the test that society assigns me which consists of questions such as  “No really, what ARE you?”
The constant battle that resides in my heart about my multiple cultures is never ending, it’s a mystery.
I’m a singer but it’s like a song I’ve never been able to sing,
I’m an artist but it’s like a picture that I’ve never been able to paint.
I’m a writer, but it’s a book that I could never find the words to write no matter how long I stay up at night no matter if I try with all my might.

I am a mixed woman but
I am a product of a white America,
A product of a nation that praises whiteness. One that favors cream colored complexions and petite bodies and blue eyes and backyard barbecues— One that denounces my curves, my culture, and my curls.  

I am a product of the nation that picks and chooses the things they consider okay and tear me apart and I don’t have a say.

All I see is white when my culture is a limitless sky,
The countless times I have had to solve myself like some math problem in a textbook tells me that I am different, screams that I am unwanted, and shouts that there’s only one right answer (so choose carefully, and always show your work)

I live at a unique place of being both the oppressor and the oppressed, and I mustn’t fail to use the ways in which I benefit from my existing white skin to empower and advocate for my brothers and sisters that my nation neglects.

For it is us, the breakers of your pyramid and the exceptions to your rule that exist and thrive in a limitless sky of culture.

@mayzieangel