The Monochrome View

Poem by L. Nef'fahitit Partlow-Myrick

Photo "Butterfly" by Jennifer Bishop

Tell him it’s a lie.
The ashen hue for sun,
the gunmetal ground for soil,
the pewter pole for fruit-bearing tree,
the cinereous mural wall for fresh field
with its marbleized animalia—

all fallacies.

Show him how to see.
Beyond appearances,
azura days of clarity,
Kelly green gardens of hope,
vermillion walls of a happy home,
kaleidoscope ways of being impervious to
circumstances and unnatural playgrounds—

all possibilities.

Tell him and tell him again and again,
the truth about little black boys and Monarchs,
then pray he flies.