Day of the imprisoned writer

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http://penusa.org/blogs/mark-program/participate-day-imprisoned-writer

Guest Post by Kate Leigh

Tammi and I watched a movie called Lost Boundaries Saturday night. (Well, you have to take a break from writing now and then....)
Here is my movie review poem:

Passing

The movie Lost Boundaries uses the word Passing

In a context unlike death, at the time of the film

If someone was Passing, they were white not black

In the eyes of their beholders.  They raised families

Who looked white, the secret was treacherous and

Could topple their lives if discovered or spoken.

A great loyalty existed amongst those who knew

The Negros who were passing, it was as if they were clear

They would try to pass, too, if they could, if their

Brown skin was lighter, their hair straighter, their eyes 

Colder, their posture more confident, their bulk of

Experiences less crushing, their futures less predetermined.

Such insecurity, such play-acting, such hollow prominence

Such groundless hope, such double lives, such questionable

Aspirations, to live amidst those who would scorn you,

To care for those who would trample you, to reserve such 

Truth and intimacy from your blood children, to play

At the white man's unbeatable game, to defeat color itself.

Wrongs heaped on wrongs until no one can do right,

A rite of passage for the children of the Passed parents,

Who missed the window in their growth to bond with their

Black ancestors, who now must suddenly atone for sins

They cannot relate to or understand, their family unable

To help them, their bodies, genetics, appearance all awry.

Cry out now for a merciful blindness to overtake our

Fickle sight, to bless us with the inability to judge on

The basis of anything but obvious merit and selfless actions.

Let us earn our ideas about the human community, apply

The law once recommended by a wiser soul, one who

Believed we do unto others as we would have them do us.

(C) 2013 Katherine Leigh all rights reserved

Here is an image of the original movie poster c.1949