Student Poem
This is a poem submitted by Rachel Gray, a student participant in Chicago Center’s LearnChicago! Program for Whitworth College’s Prejudice Across America trip, which spent 3 days in Chicago. The poem reflects on her South Side Tour with Chicago Center staff member Arvis Averette.
She writes, “This was the first poem I wrote after getting back from the Prejudice Across America trip and I was determined to change the world (the intellectual landscape of Whitworth, at least) with it…
Arvis’ Mythology
“Take a good look
at them. They’ll be mythology
soon.” Silent titans loom
grayer than the sky. Concrete stories
upon stories, stains
in the stairwells. Even eyes
closed can’t see black children play
in a packed dirt yard, even under a titan’s
watch.
Home is not soft blades
of grass poking tender pink
feet. It is not walking on
stainless precious plush
carpet (don’t eat on it). Home is
not sliding down polished banisters, or
playing pirates on the stairs.
Instead, it is making sure poorly
placed needles do not stab
tender pink feet. It is understanding
a moment alone could last
forever.
The Olympians have arrived.
A huge iron ball smashes into a living
room betrayed. Dustblood
sprays into the air (the heavy machinery
operators wear masks). Huge chunks
of walls float haphazardly toward
the ground. Off center, a sign
announces the invasion of
million dollar white people
condos.
Black people are tiny against the back
drop of a giant.