Snapshot Poem by Kelsee Sinclair

My life is a snapshot
A picture on the wall
Hands nailed to the frames
Eyes stitched to the opposite wall
And you know what I see?
I see fear in black and white
I see fear pouring down
And the worst part is, of course
I’m all alone

My life is a snapshot
A second frozen in time
And I only see
White paint and white walls and
The white imprint of
My father’s hands on my arms
And the same carpet on the floor
Entwined with my black tears
And white blood, and too bad
I’m all alone

My life is a snapshot
And I’m asking myself
Why nothing seems to change
The white paint is still chipping
Like the carpet that’s blacker with
More white blood and black tears
And I’m still standing under
The white rain that is pouring
And freezing me to the bone
In this black and white snapshot
And too bad, I’m all alone

My life is a snapshot
I can’t break free alone
I can’t stop my white blood from seeping
My black tears are cutting
My grey face
My grey face that is as grey
As the heart that is imprinted
With the fear of my father
Whose black hands leave white imprints
That bruise black on white skin
Those white imprints are breaking me
But too bad
I can’t break free alone

My life is a snapshot
And I can’t understand
Why I can’t burst through
This picture frame on the wall
I hate how I am drowning
In the blacks and the whites
I can’t break free alone

Please, I want to see
The white rain cause
The black ink to run
I want to see
The ink on my snapshot
Run free
Please, don’t make me keep standing alone
Give me the strength
To place some color in this world
So my heart and my blood
Can finally bleed red

Let me tear the nails from my hands
Let color, not fear
Sweeten my broken white and black skin
Let me wash away my fear
Carry that fear far away
Carry that black fear far away
So I can break free
Of the blacks and the whites

So I can break free of this snapshot
So I can break free of this snapshot
So I can stand by your side
A man who won’t leave white imprints
On white skin and leave black tears
Yes, let me break free
Let this black and white snapshot
Be no more