I am black
Coloured like a pigmy
in a smurf outfit.
A curious bambino
That leans over your complexion
The faultless albino
That strayed away
To the melanin free-zone.
I am not you
Sometimes, I am blond
With hollow eyes
You are not me
You are dwarfed
With grey eyes
I am no half-breed nor apostate
I am nature’s gift to nature.
What is colour to me
Seeing that you have shown up
With yours covering your eyes
And can’t see beyond
The part that makes us look different
Even when we share many other
Aspects that make the world more
Colourful and beautiful to behold.
© Olutomi Akinsanya, 2018
Olutomi Akinsanya, currently living in Nigeria, has loved literature and art, reading African contemporary writers’ such as Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe and even Western greats like Shakespeare, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Khalil Gibran from an early age. He became drawn to poetry because of its deeper underlining meanings and began writing in August of 2004. Previously publishing on 8hop.com until 2012 when the site closed down and most of the writings from that era are lost. He loves nature and his cultural background helps him weave and paint letters on the heart of his audience.