Guernica

Blood.

            Chaos.

                         Remorse.

I remember
It was a sunny bright day and
I wore a yellow shirt
with princess Belle imprinted on it.

“Catch me if you can!”
“Vroom Vroom”
“CRASH”

“Rinse with water!”

She screamed in pain.
“Be quiet, don’t tell mom! It’s going to be ok.”
She held back her tears.

Blood showered the bathroom sink.
I tried to rinse it off
but the splattered blood dried
Gravity pulled hard on my chest.

“I don’t know what to do.”
“Can you resist the pain?”
She shrieked as the water pricked her scars

The ambulance came.
All eyes glared at me.
What have I done?

Now I have outgrown my yellow Belle shirt
But that stain of blood on it,
had not been erased.

The contract says: Perhaps in the future we will all be one

When you come, bring your brown
-ness so we can be sure to please 
The publishers. 

Share and pass on the stories from the griots. 
Be sure to reminisce and remember what had happened. 
Don’t forget.

Will they tell us stories that make us feel
Uncomfortable? Will they value something
That we have never heard of?

Almost like a black hole. Their thoughts are unclear.
Thoughts are filtered. Thoughts are dragged into
darkness by the force of gravity.

Wish we could drop a mouse into their poems
See the way it probes his way out. 
Wish we could know more about their maze of thoughts. 

There’s more to learn. There always will be.
But now, inquiry fades away
and people became reluctant to learn.

Perhaps in the future, 
diversity is acknowledged and valued 
Perhaps in the future, 
We will all be one.

Ah-young Dana Park is a creative seventh grader who loves to bring her imagination to life through both writing and art. This is her first submission to a literary magazine, marking the beginning of what she hopes will be a lifelong journey in the creative arts.