Pink and Blue

By Paige Geralds

 

I am 11

I cut my doll’s hair short

like a boy

It’s dad weekend

and I want to stay home

my mom makes me wear a dress to church

but we’re jewish

and I want to wear a suit

and my closet is full

of clothes I don’t wear.

 

I’m changing diapers

of a baby that isn’t mine

I spend recess on the slide by myself

with my lunch bag in my lap

I wear my brother’s old shirts

and people can tell

I can’t sleep at dad’s house it’s haunted

I fractured my foot

but dad didn’t believe me

so I wore ten pairs of socks instead

and my closet is full

of clothes I don’t wear.

 

Pink is my least favorite color

but my room was already decorated

I tried to change my name

and only one person listened

I like boys

until they look at me

and I want girls

to look at me that way too

in art class I made a mask

I’m not allowed to put it on

and my closet is full

of clothes I don’t wear.

 

Paige’s Bio: 

Paige Geralds is a Senior at Rutgers University studying Communications as well as Creative Writing. Paige has been writing poems in her journals since she was a young child and always had a passion for storytelling. She never let anyone read her work until her freshman year creative writing course that changed her life. Paige never thought anything of her little hobby until her creative writing professors and classmates showed interest in her work. Her goal in life is to publish her own poetry book someday, and to never stop writing.

Paige wrote this poem in her Independent Study in Poetry course overseen by Susan Miller.