Apartment Complex

This was based on work by Elizabeth Alexander for class. she writes a lot about race and it's relationship with her.



Apartment Complex

1.
The smell is invading my nostrils as I walk down the hallway.
I cannot tell what is cooking--
Stir fry dishes used to all smell the same.
Now I’m at a loss.

2.
For the first time in my life, I’m the minority.
Beautiful women with shiny black hair surround me.
Men who simply look intelligent walk my hallways.
Why do they have to be my hallways?

3.
Are they talking about me as I walk to get my mail?
They looked my way and laughed.
That’s universal.
I smile and look down as I pass them,
Their language is a cacophony in my ears.

4.
I always feel like the oppressor when I walk home.
The white woman who does no wrong…
Is that what they think I believe?
I’m intimidated by superior knowledge, harder work
And more musical ability than I will ever know.
I’m plagued by all kinds of stereotypes.
Even the good ones.

5.
I dream of myself as a baby
With jaundiced skin and almond eyes.
After she saw it, my best friend asked
If I was Asian.