Red Flowers | Teen Ink

Red Flowers

April 2, 2024
By PK SILVER, Pelham, Alabama
PK SILVER, Pelham, Alabama
5 articles 0 photos 0 comments

A white fist is closed in rage

It hits my white ribcage

And I choke on red flowers blossoming in my lungs

And I run for hours but the deed is done


And I stand, holding a black and blue chest

And I stand, to face the pale rest

And they tell me to clean out the red flowers coming through my shirt 

They tell me that I shouldn’t hurt


And they remind me of the polished knife

And they remind me of my pointless life

Their sky eyes stare at the red flowers that bloom

It stains their gold hair true


And when I am finally freed

When the yellow sun is finally seen

I cough up some red flowers as I start to turn blue

I give those red flowers to you


I hope that you do not hold on to them

I hope that you do not love them

I hope that you point and laugh like them

I hope that you run away like them


For you still stand with skin like porcelain glass

While I stand, my skin turning to ash

You see my red flowers grow

And yet, then you stop their flow


You come to touch my heart

Stop the red flowers

Before they even start

But you should not even look at me


You have eyes like the earth

But not like mine like the color of dirt

My eyes have red flowers growing across the snow

I haven’t slept, but you already know


You yourself can not save me

Your hands too clean to hold

From your hands come art and beauty

From my hands come red flowers


In your mind you can see the canvas

From your eyes you can see chance

That I may stay

That I will not leave you with just red flowers


But just as my eyes are bloodied snow

Just as my skin is a sickly glow

The only thing that will pour is red flowers from my vein

You touch my hands and on your wrist red flowers will stain


So keep my red flowers

Far away

They are all that’s left of me

All that will stay


You may look

But not for long since

my red flowers

Will only blemish your pale skin


The author's comments:

Growing up brown in the south leads to a lot of internalized racism


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