Muddy Footprints

$250 WINNERROBERT HALLECK AWARD POETRY MUDDY FOOTPRINTS by Faith Odegbami

Sometimes I like to imagine what it would be like to not don this earthy tone People see me and they see mud a dirtiness that could never be made clean They say that no matter the location, mud is mud and it ruins things Like the neighborhood, the education system and, effortlessly, the country But this mud was not made here in the States It was brought over from another land concocted with blood and tears and sweat That fell on the stolen lands we were brought to I have found that the reason my earthy nature is so alarming to you Is because with every glance at a face like mine you see the mess your ancestors made You find a hatred for me that I myself have never known To some, you may just see earthy tones and features But to some degree, we are all just ignoring the mud that has been tracked over this land for hundreds of years Caked up and begging to be seen