2022
Equilibrium j oy ly n n d u n g u
(Winner of the Jack Kerouac Student Poetry and Prose Contest, Lowell High School, 2021)
Are all men created equal? Are men with fair and skin rich such as the soil and the ones in between, equal? Even a man and a woman? Are all men created equal? Are they equal by size, intelligence, class, passions, interests, background, spirits, and anatomy? Oh! or do you mean by rights and being made in the image of God? But why is life here so compassion-less to men whose skin seemed to have a long conversation with the sun, why is it that like deer they are targeted, chased? Then BOOM. Shots fired. Silence. But a fair-skinned man roams around claiming and inhabiting whatsoever his heart desires. A king he is “Hello sir, how may I help you today, can I carry it for you?” “I wish you a pleasant day sir” But on the contrary, the others are waiters, waitresses, Servants. “Make sure you check out for that one, he looks suspicious” “Check to see if anything is stolen.” ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL! Insulting. If such a statement would be true, my heaven, my earth would be the same as yours. My brothers’ and sisters’ lives would not be gambled and be put at a price. Their skin would be appreciated and loved for its uniqueness and not seen as a weapon. Maybe, only, it is in God’s eyes that men are created equal.
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The Lowell Review
