Hot Springs World Class High School issued the following announcement on Feb. 8.
Our Marlissa Archie won a FIRST PLACE Scholarship from Thea Foundation in Creative Writing! Her memorable entry, a poem entitled “I live in the grey,” is shared below. Congrats to Marly, and thank you Thea Foundation for these wonderful scholarship opportunities provided to Arkansas students.
“I live in the grey”
I hail from two strains,
One free since the first 13
One constrained by the shackles and chains.
I live in the grey.
My helix is twisted by fingers that flashed paper green
A ladder connected to the side that bled to allow them this luxury Hands that played corrupt, crooked games
A heart uncertain if it would be added to the growing list of names. I live in the grey.
Asked if I’m saved from the rumored horrors of the motherland, Because this white woman couldn’t have created me as a pearl from sand
Told to stop speaking, your sound is too much
Told I ring of the oppressor’s voice and touch.
I live in the grey.
Entranced by the spinning circle of black and white
Are you with us, or are you looking for a fight?
My body wrestles with the notion of choice,
But my soul knows what I bear and whom I hoist.
I live in the grey.
I carry a part of the colonizer’s history of hate,
But I reap the black silhouettes who never let their stories be erased I am a woman of two worlds, two entities made to diverge
I am a rule-breaker, I am a product of their merge;
The King’s Dream, and the three K’s nightmare
A whole that two segregated halves now share.
I live in the grey.
I live in a space that was forbidden and unfair
I live in a space where the table held no respect for the chair
But as I stand here today, I take in both sides
As I stand here today, I am proof of the healing divide
As I stand here today, I look towards tomorrow
One where we fix our mistakes and diminish our sorrow
A future where we can proudly converge
A system where equity and love emerge.
I am Black,
and I am white.
I live in the grey
I am Black,
and I am white.
I strive for peace every day.
By: Marlissa Archie, Hot Springs World Class High School
Original source can be found here.
Source: Hot Springs World Class High School
