The Plaque Called Color

Ryder Martin

It is a million and one locusts rushing in tandem to block out the sun, and the only color you can see is black. Wings terrorize, press your eyes closed, you feel them nicking your skin, their rushing heads slice your exposed earlobes in passing, and it culminates into a painful throbbing within the lair of the head. A sobbing of tears go dry upon your cheeks, the moisture is caught on the locusts which rub on your skin as they scramble onward, and there are so many punches, by what feels like slow bullets-

But this is not the plague called Color-

The plague called color is the infection of society that has conditioned americans to give more to light skin, and the lesser to dark skin, and to live and act on these differences, which disregards character, compassion, growth, and equality-

This is the plague called Color.