IF YOU SHOULD SEE ME

Trini is a young woman who participates in Prison Writes writing workshops through Bronxconnect. For the past few weeks young participants and their counselors at Bronxconnect have been writing based on the prompt, 'If you should see me on the street'. In our group we talked about identity, assumptions, and how people pass judgement. Participants shared how they judge and feel judged, and how it feels to carry the invisibility of sometimes tender inner emotions out into a harsh world.

If You Should See Me on the Street

If you should see me on the street

Then you notice my bamboo earings, but not my GPA

You see my lip gloss and bubble popping lips

But not the intelligence that comes out of it

If you should see me on the street

Than you’ll see that I’m young and pretty

But you don’t see that I’ve been working since 13 years old

And my beauty didn’t play a role in my success

If you should see me on the street

Then you’ll notice I’m a minority and that’s all

But you don’t’ see my pale toned mother

And my melanin skin father

If you should see me on the street

You’ll see a nobody

But in all reality

I’m somebody’s somebody