I wrote the following poem about colorism when I was in junior high, circa 1997. I don’t remember my exact age or the exact time. I do know that this was the first time I’d ever expressed my thoughts about colorism, and It was more than a decade later before I ever tried to speak or write about colorism again.
One of the reasons I wanted to launch the Colorism Poetry Contest is to give people the kind of platform that I would have benefited from. Rather than writing poems and tucking them away in notebooks, never to be shared with anyone, this contest will give people the chance to offer their expressions to the whole world.
What I hope the collection of poetry submissions will show is the diversity of ideas and experiences with colorism, as well as the similarities.
For those who have never attempted to write a poem about colorism, the Colorism Poetry Contest serves as a prompt that can get people to really think about colorism–what it means, how it makes them or others feel, and how it affects individual lives.
The professional, career writer in me could make a thousand revisions and edits to this poem, but I left it as it was originally written, true to who I was at that time. What’s published below is a peak into what’s driven me over the years to eventually dedicate myself to this work.
Fair Weather: A Poem About Colorism
by Sarah L. Webb circa 1997
It took a while for me to remember
That rainy, gray morning in September
A girl with skin like the sun
Didn’t stop me from having fun
A lot of attention is what she got
Friends try to bring me along
I say I would rather not
Because right here the will is strong
The two of us they try to compare
But I’m used to it, so I don’t care
I don’t care if her hair is long
With my hair I see nothing wrong
So what if I have darker skin
I’m not deprived of any finesse
And might I say again
It adds to my gracefulness
The guys try to put her in my place
Because they claim she has a prettier face
But I can, without the slightest hint of a try,
See myself as beautiful until I die