30 day poetry challenge: day 7

Ruby Bridges

Today is my first day at my new school,

I walk head up, back straight, my rose-white dress

Highlighting my coal-black skin which, I guess,

Is why I was subject to the Black Rule.

I don’t know how, or why, but for as long

As I could remember, I had felt wrong

I couldn’t join white children, join their throng.

So I have black skin. Is that really wrong?

I may bare the mark of my ancestors,

I may sing their faith-songs and share their sores,

But I am not a slave, I am not, no!

Like you, I am a patriot,

Like you, I yearn for freedom,

Like you, I am American.

This is a poem based on Norman Rockwell’s painting The problem we all live with. I find it very inspiring, and, every time I look at it, am struck at how proud the girl looks. This poem is what the little girl in the painting could be thinking. She quite young, so I doubt she would know what “segregation” is, but she would definitely understand the concept. She might have called it the “Black Rule”, or something similar. She might also be confused at why, before, she wasn’t allowed to meet with white children or play with them, or “join their throng”.

The six last lines express her desire to be treated like any other American: she might look like her ancestors, and share some of their traditions, but she feels American. Not African. American.

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For more poems, go to 30 day poetry challenge.

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