deepundergroundpoetry.com
Mixed
My hue does not define who I am nor does it tell my tale.
I am of every shade as I derive of every culture.
To tell you where I come from I would have to take you on a journey to where my ancestors were born on this land, their Native blood shed on this land,
they lived on this land, they married on this land, they gave me life on this land.
In every cry of the howl of the wolf to the shine of a twinkling star I remember their heritage.
Now let me show my other color as I take you on another journey all the way to Italy.
I feel as though I'm an Italian princess.
I have the unbreakable determation of a fighter and the secrecy of a Italian gangster.
I've inherited toughness and poise from those who taught me to never go against the family.
Maybe it's stereotypical, but it's true that I would die and I would kill for my family.
Now onto my next color as we fly away to Germany, you may speak negatively about my ancestry without a doubt it wasn't perfect, but it shouldn't mean you have to pin it's ugly history on me for something I'm not nor will I ever become.
Finally we arrive to my other color as our final destination comes to a stop here in America, it didn't start on this land but it was finished on this land as I'm also proud to be Hispanic.
You may laugh at me, you may say I can never claim to be a true Latina because of my skin color or the fact that as ignorantly as you put it I am not fully one.
In my blood courses the blood of my Spanish and Mexican ancestors,
I have inherited their can-do attitude and passion,
Their exotic beauty and firey temper.
I feel the cumbia's rhythm deep in mí corazón as I'm blessed with the beat in each step I take.
I am a proud Latina regardless of what you think.
Now that I have taken you on my journey through my history and ancestry I must leave you with this final thought.
We are all united no matter the shade of our color or where we come from,
No matter African American or White,
Mexican or Native American,
German or Indian,
Arabic or Russian we are all equal.
And no matter Biracial or full blooded we are all the same, human.
I am of every shade as I derive of every culture.
To tell you where I come from I would have to take you on a journey to where my ancestors were born on this land, their Native blood shed on this land,
they lived on this land, they married on this land, they gave me life on this land.
In every cry of the howl of the wolf to the shine of a twinkling star I remember their heritage.
Now let me show my other color as I take you on another journey all the way to Italy.
I feel as though I'm an Italian princess.
I have the unbreakable determation of a fighter and the secrecy of a Italian gangster.
I've inherited toughness and poise from those who taught me to never go against the family.
Maybe it's stereotypical, but it's true that I would die and I would kill for my family.
Now onto my next color as we fly away to Germany, you may speak negatively about my ancestry without a doubt it wasn't perfect, but it shouldn't mean you have to pin it's ugly history on me for something I'm not nor will I ever become.
Finally we arrive to my other color as our final destination comes to a stop here in America, it didn't start on this land but it was finished on this land as I'm also proud to be Hispanic.
You may laugh at me, you may say I can never claim to be a true Latina because of my skin color or the fact that as ignorantly as you put it I am not fully one.
In my blood courses the blood of my Spanish and Mexican ancestors,
I have inherited their can-do attitude and passion,
Their exotic beauty and firey temper.
I feel the cumbia's rhythm deep in mí corazón as I'm blessed with the beat in each step I take.
I am a proud Latina regardless of what you think.
Now that I have taken you on my journey through my history and ancestry I must leave you with this final thought.
We are all united no matter the shade of our color or where we come from,
No matter African American or White,
Mexican or Native American,
German or Indian,
Arabic or Russian we are all equal.
And no matter Biracial or full blooded we are all the same, human.
Published 6th Feb 2017
All writing remains the property of the author. Don't use it for any purpose without their permission.
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6th Feb 2017 12:14pm
Deeply informative, n full of pride n passion! N truly a great message!
Outstanding ink my sweet, tough lil Native American, Italian, German, Latina beauty... :) lol
Outstanding ink my sweet, tough lil Native American, Italian, German, Latina beauty... :) lol
6th Feb 2017 7:41pm
6th Feb 2017 12:47pm
6th Feb 2017 2:16pm
it's a glorious ancestry, rich in heritage;
we admire the proud voice in your poem
& recall the adventures of our own ancestors...
we admire the proud voice in your poem
& recall the adventures of our own ancestors...
6th Feb 2017 6:47pm
Thank you John, I'm proud of who I am and still to this day I get asked " what are you?" because no one really knows what I am by looking at me so I have to explain what I am. The downside about being mixed though is you run into people who make you feel like if you are mixed you're not as privileged as someone who's full blooded. So that sucks.
11th Feb 2017 12:52pm
I really like this poem and I like how you're describing all the different heritages you have, it's very intriguing for me as I don't have much of one myself and I'd love to have something as interesting as that to write about. One thing I think you could do with this if you wanted to, is rather than telling the readers what nationality and heritages you're describing you could give clues to that information through the poem so the reader has to do a bit of work E.G When you say not to pin German history on you, you could mention how you aren't accountable for the sins of your other ancestors and describe the events without mentioning the name Germany. It all depends if you wanted to play about with it that way because of course it is a self poem so it depends how explicit you want to be. I love the message of your poem as well and the way you describe colour as "hue" sounded nice. Thanks for sharing it 😊 X
14th Jun 2021 2:49am
Your poem is as relevant today as it was on the day you wrote it and will continue to remain so well into the future
This was a wonderful introduction to let the world know who you are lovely floecist
Now my fascination is mostly on the side of the languages
Imagine being able to speak German, Italian, Spanish & I'm unsure about the languages of the Native Americans
The tragedy with those is that many of them are now dead languages
Yours is a very rich history that you must never be ashamed of but always hold highly with pride
Maybe sometimes if the occasion calls for humility also have some of that too
We are all here because of our ancestors
The fact that you have to explain yourself to people says more about them as opposed to you
It is an African plight that of being judged about colour
It is evident that is not only in heritage where privilege exists
This is also found in nationality with some passports coming with the strength and power that others lack
Some instances of racism may be subtle or overt within your own borders
But they can be heightened and even more blatant when abroad in faraway shores
As many Africans in the diaspora may attest to this
Who have to find better opportunities elsewhere to improve the lives of their families and communities back home
So my message to you if you don't mind me calling you an African Queen amongst all your other well deserved titles
Don't stop being resilient
Never have I ever seen a people with such a tireless and towering chutzpah
Guiding them to keep on living and die trying against all odds
Hopefully it was in that spirit that Rev. Dr Martin Luther King Jnr. also said:
"If a man has not discovered something that he is willing to die for, he isn't fit to live"
In our present times we all need to have that IKIGAI
With a philosophy of Kaizen being practised in our lives daily
Thank you kindly for your powerful submission
As a parting short on this subject
Without being facetious
My limited understanding of "full blooded" doesn't go beyond that of meaning a person who is not anemic
This was a wonderful introduction to let the world know who you are lovely floecist
Now my fascination is mostly on the side of the languages
Imagine being able to speak German, Italian, Spanish & I'm unsure about the languages of the Native Americans
The tragedy with those is that many of them are now dead languages
Yours is a very rich history that you must never be ashamed of but always hold highly with pride
Maybe sometimes if the occasion calls for humility also have some of that too
We are all here because of our ancestors
The fact that you have to explain yourself to people says more about them as opposed to you
It is an African plight that of being judged about colour
It is evident that is not only in heritage where privilege exists
This is also found in nationality with some passports coming with the strength and power that others lack
Some instances of racism may be subtle or overt within your own borders
But they can be heightened and even more blatant when abroad in faraway shores
As many Africans in the diaspora may attest to this
Who have to find better opportunities elsewhere to improve the lives of their families and communities back home
So my message to you if you don't mind me calling you an African Queen amongst all your other well deserved titles
Don't stop being resilient
Never have I ever seen a people with such a tireless and towering chutzpah
Guiding them to keep on living and die trying against all odds
Hopefully it was in that spirit that Rev. Dr Martin Luther King Jnr. also said:
"If a man has not discovered something that he is willing to die for, he isn't fit to live"
In our present times we all need to have that IKIGAI
With a philosophy of Kaizen being practised in our lives daily
Thank you kindly for your powerful submission
As a parting short on this subject
Without being facetious
My limited understanding of "full blooded" doesn't go beyond that of meaning a person who is not anemic
