by Elizabeth Acevedo
Mami wanted me to be a lady:
sit up straight, cross my ankles,
let men protect me.
Papi wanted me to be a leader.
To think quick & strike hard,
to speak rarely, but when I did,
to always be heard. Me?
Playing chess taught me a queen is both:
deadly & graceful, poised & ruthless.
Quiet & cunning. A queen
offers her hand to be kissed,
& can form it into a fist
while smiling the whole damn time.
But what happens when those principles
only apply in a game? & in the real world,
I am not treated as a lady or a queen,
as a defender or opponent
but as a girl so many want to strike off the board.
From:
Clap When You Land [ Odyssey Award Nominee (2021), Audie Award for Multi-Voiced Performance (2021), Teen Buckeye Book Award Nominee (2021), Pennsylvania Young Readers' Choice Award Nominee for Young Adult (2022), Rhode Island Teen Book Award Nominee (2022), Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award (2021) ]
Copyright ©:
2020 by HarperTeen
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