Original Spoken Word By: Hannah Whitley

Things I learned in Kindergarten 

I was in kindergarten 

Sitting in circles 

Barley knowing colors 

Looking at chalkboards 

Black chalk boards. 

And the teacher would pick up that white chalk.

That little white chalk.

That clean white chalk

And hold it in her hand so delicate 

Afraid to drop it

It was her tool 

It was her asset. 

Black board sit in the background 

Blank and empty 

But broad and vast knowing it could take up the whole classroom if walls weren’t there to stop it. 

But nobody was looking at that big black board.

Despite its vastness.

Despite it being the biggest thing in the room. 

Everybody was looking at that one piece of white chalk.

Because the teacher chose it. 

Picked it up and said it was special.

Now the black board waits. 

And watches.

As it is covered in whiteness.

White scribbles that take up the whole board.

Until blackness is no more

And children and me.

Wrote down those white words in our notebooks because she made them worthy to be remembered.

And black board.

Still firm and sturdy 

Is the backbone left in the background.

Being forgotten because it’s  filled with some else’s words.

despite it being the only thing holding everything together.

And when Teacher picked up that white chalk she was watched by Little eyes with tiny stomachs and hungry minds,

That left that classroom wanting to be that white chalk.

Special and chosen. 

Held up high.

And me,  black girl, saw that white chalk.

That little white chalk

And wished away my vastness, and, my sturdiness, and my blackness 

To be that white chalk,

Just so I could be chosen

I wanted to be loved like you white chalk…