Perception

teacher asked me,

"What's your favorite color?"

With a smile as big as the joy of a child running through sprinklers on a hot summer day I answered,

"Black, black is my favorite color!"

but in lightening speed teacher

mocked my passion

declaring that black

was no respectable color.

Efforts to shame me into choosing

one more socially acceptable

one easier to justify

was met with confidence of chromium

still I was not believed and

teacher points to a color chart

on the wall, convinced that I had some how forgotten the yellow,

the orange,

the red,

the blue,

the purple,

the green,

the pink,

but that was far from my vibrant truth

I had chosen them all, wrapped up in

one defiant and heroic color— black