The Skin You’re In

When your mother, brother, and best friends call you, you know it’s time to be concerned . . . only they knew where I lived and they were concerned for me.

Nice to meet you, how goes it all?

Fine, thanks for asking ya’ll.

Except what I really want to say is hard,

Because I don’t want to yell it all the way across the yard.

But if you really wanted to know, I’d say

The flashing lights were behind me today

And with my heart pounding in my chest, I looked down

At my speed, my belt, and my family around

Doesn’t matter if I’m in the right or not

It passes my mind, is this the day that I’m shot

I think it nearly every time

I try hard to push it out of my mind

Because I know it’s not many, only some

But for the some, it takes only one

And yet I’ve focused on the good

The positives in life, as best I could

Until I see, hear, and feel again

Examples and reasons for fear to begin

Because it’s not just my merit, deeds, and faith that wins

It’s just that sometimes you lose, because of the skin you’re in.

A poem by Ha-Keem Abdel-Khaliq