CulturAl APPrOPriAtiOn

Elisa Cameron

Something I’ve had the privilege to see a lot of, at least, ever since I learned what it meant.

Sometimes I’ll go and think that I appropriate my own culture myself. Because how dare I be the child of two who aren’t the same.

Because I dreamt as a kid I could be just one while everyone around me never had to lift a thumb. Because I didn’t look the same talk the same act the same therefore, I wasn’t the same.

Hearing the puh in my please I begged for someone to see me as myself. Imprisoned by self doubt. Working myself like a machine to justify my own worth for others Who would mean nothing to me.

I’ll grow to find worth in the waste. I’ll grow to have a better taste. I’ll grow to know I have what it takes.