My Bedroom Will Be Pink
written by Oni the Haitian Sensation for Urbana 2008(C) www.mesooni.com
By the look of this photo:
The shape of the shell gives helpful clues as to how the turtle lives.
My first home, was a dome, a skeleton, that a cold winter never forgives.
My walls had no color, my room was not mine.
I had not backyard at the age of nine.
I wanted pink walls like the ones I have now,
Change would soon come, somewhere, somehow.
I wanted my walls in raspberry rose,
With flowers, bows and trimmings, I suppose
I questioned my parents about my lack of pink.
My old walls were blank - retaining walls could not think.
My room has a soul a boundary against intrusion.
Moving from place to place caused me much confusion.
By the look of this photo:
My second home had no backyard, it was a cocoon, an apartment.
A small department, on an urban escarpment.
When I looked at this photo I did not see my dog.
In my photo album, in my ancestral log.
Multiple layers surround social change,
My dog got evicted, I found that so strange.
My lassie had to live with my mothers friends.
Adaptation to change became a new trend.
Cocoons grow wings then they take flight
I missed my dog when it was out of sight.
The third home had no photo, no negative, no ink.
We stayed there a month, no time to blink.
The landlord made us leave. We had no place to live,
My parents were scared of being homeless with kids.
By the look of this photo:
My surroundings have changed.
My dog was back home feeling estranged.
My fourth home was better, I go to the schoolyard to play.
Our boxes are unpacked,
How long do we stay?
By the look of this photo:
My fifth home was fine.
We needed a refuge, and a telephone line.
Our new space was the basement of my mom’s friend’s house.
A “borrowed” burrow, to play cat and mouse.
I shared a room with my parents, my dog, and my brother.
The space was so small, I was feeling smothered.
One day, I heard my parents on the phone.
They seemed very excited about a Habitat Home.
Why were they so happy? We had to move again.
My environment would change and so would my friends.
By the look of this photo:
My shell really changed,
We all had security, our lives were arranged.
My walls in my room were no longer plain.
They were stained with a soft bubble gum pink.
I no longer lived in a cage -my memories remain.
For once in my life I was free to roam,
In my sixth home, my home, my Habitat Home.
Urbana
Thurs, April 24, 2008
6 to 9 p.m.
Tickets: $85
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