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Blue Marble Review

Literary Journal for Young Writers

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happy to be here

By Alixa Brobbey

in the almost broken black car

we are turning from Zaire street

onto Lilongwe avenue.

dad complains about the car

and the weather, and the doctors,

i am too excited to say anything

inside my soul is singing, for no reason,

except i                        am happy to be here

 

yes, i see that paint is peeling

off of buildings we pass like

teardrops slowly falling from the sky

but next to this slow death,

there are pink flowers peeking

out from the cracks in the walls

and because of that small beauty

i           am happy to be here

 

and yes, sometimes the sun

scorches my skin so i look more

burned marshmallow than delicious

chocolate, but here the boys don’t

see me as beautiful like an exotic

flower, but beautiful like their own

resilient mothers, and that comparison

makes me        happy to be here

 

and yes, i don’t like how some want

to see me but not hear me throw

my voice over the rooftops, and yes

i don’t like potholes and dumsor because

it’s scary getting lost in dark holes, and

yes i don’t like the fact that when adults

greet us we reply like a scripted Greek

chorus             i am fine

 

i want to say that i am eons away from fine

because i          am so happy to be here

and it may sound cliché or like forced poetry

but when i think of my mother’s ancestors

hauled across the dark blue sea, i think

that a few hours of silence just to pacify

the spirits of the elders are worth a life

out of chains, where i can walk where i please

history                        makes me happy just to be

 

Alixa Brobbey is a young writer living in Accra, Ghana. She grew up in the Netherlands and often uses the experience of calling two different continents home as an inspiration for her work, which has been published in Canvas, The Battering Ram, and others. Aside from reading and writing, her hobbies include running, acting, trying to retain her fluency in Dutch, listening to Shawn Mendes’ albums on repeat, and fangirling over Harry Potter. You can read more of her work here: http://lilaccheetah.wixsite.com/alixawrites

Filed Under: Poetry Tagged With: Summer 17: 12Poems

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