Struggle in Pride - AR Writings

Painting by Larry Silver - Click the photo to inquire about purchasing from ~Silver Arts~.

Pretty, yellow- toned girl staring through the mirror
Bright blue eyes illuminating, but faded just the same
Light brown hair tumbling down--- a sea of waves caressing her shoulders
A meek individual without a voice

She doesn’t belong.

Swaying her hips from side to side
The music glides her into a fantasy world
She must use this to survive
Such a world of desolation in her eyes

How can she belong?

Slim, frail body
Dancing keeps her sanity
Studio walls encompass her

Can she impact a world in which she doesn’t belong?

The record stops---

Change the song
Outkast---not black or white
“Your beautiful” sounds strange in her mind

Not having a team to play on,
She goes back to the studio
The only place that feels like home

“Are you black or white?”---kids can be so cruel
She doesn’t know anything but Contra tunes
Rhythmic stretches of the leg give the dance identity

Gleaming in the mirror—a tear
Frustrated, she stops and stares
Not this culture or the other
How can one dance not knowing where to draw from?

Her father was this, her mother another
Lost look in her eyes shows the struggle
Characterization in her own movements, but none in her own instance

That was long ago---ten years to be exact
Now this girl knows something different
This yellow-toned girl has depth
And now looks in the mirror at herself,

Relishes in the differences----puts them into her dancing
Curtains open on stage--- heart beating quickly
Pretty yellow-toned girl showing the two worlds from which she came freely