Three Women

My skin is porcelain tan

I’ve been beaten robbed and raped

Because I’m not as strong as a man

I have wandered the world in search

Of fulfillment, can’t find

peace anywhere

Born and raised in Italy’s ghettos

I learned how to play a hand as good

As any man

Dealt cards in the best casinos

in big cities everywhere

My plate is bitter,

I’ve got constant jitters,

not a quitter

I’m tough as they come

My name is Rosa

My skin is rosy

Born in a concentration camp I survived

I never knew my mother

Soldiers came from England

Gave me chocolate from their hands

Sister Ruth held my hand

Said I had blue eyes like my mother

I escaped the holocaust but I’ll never be free,

I’m slave to fears and misery

Afraid to see beauty, afraid to sleep,

Toss, turn, trapped in rough seas,

refuse to weep, my life in a heap

The days run blue mystical,

Fast, hard rains fall

Blinding like sparkling stars

My name is Ruby

My ancestors left Spain

I’m a woman of color, black hair, black eyes, olive skin

My family came to the new world in 1492

Before they slaughtered all us Jews

Persecuted for religious beliefs,

The new world provides no relief

Punished for the sins of my fathers

I tell them I’m Jew not Roman

Confused they persist in rebuking me,

Call me Christ killer
My name is Gypsy!

I dunno, you be the judge as to which version is better and tell me below. I want to know.

Three Women (oops my bad - still editing)

My skin is porcelain tan

I’ve been beaten robbed and raped

Because I’m not as strong as a man

I have wandered the world in search

Of fulfillment, can’t find

peace anywhere

Born and raised in Italy’s ghettos

I learned how to play a hand as good

As any man

Dealt cards in the best casinos

in big cities everywhere

My plate is bitter,

I’ve got constant jitters,

not a quitter

I’m tough as they come

My name is Rosa

My skin is rosy

Born in a concentration camp I survived

I never knew my mother

Soldiers came from England

Gave me chocolate from their hands

Sister Ruth held my hand

Said I had blue eyes like my mother

I escaped the holocaust but I’ll never be free,

I’m slave to fears and misery

Afraid to see beauty, afraid to sleep,

I’m too busy counting sheep

The days run blue mystical,

Fast, hard rains fall

Blinding like sparkling stars

My name is Ruby

My ancestors left Spain

I’m a woman of color, with black hair, black eyes, olive skin

My family came to the new world in 1492

Before they slaughtered all us Jews

Persecuted for religious beliefs,

The new world provides no relief

Punished for the sins of my fathers

I tell them I’m Jew not Roman

Confused they persist in rebuking me,

Call me Christ killer              
My name is Gypsy!

Comment published in New York Times

I wrote a response to Thaddeus Rutkowsky's article and my response can be found here below. Yay!

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/07/20/one-degree-of-separation/?comments#permid=12354242

There They Stand, Watching Me Watch Them

He jumps up, says she’s abusing him

Grabs his shit, runs through the door

Everyone watches

ALL EYEZ ON THEM

Bona fide great pride, all pretty and perfect outside,

Suburbia defined and redefined

Inside created a great divide

Live in a world of Jekyll and Hyde. Good gone,

Erased in time, lives in a lie cocoon. How can I judge?

Your boy Paco tells stories that make scary seem good

“A very bad person,” said Judy determinedly

Judy deals with rapists and killers

You give Motherhood a bad name

Denial and avoidance is your leisure

You brag about Paco on your Facebook page

Enjoy the fruits of your glory

Raised with hate, he could’ve been a terminator

But turned to art instead

He despises you for not protecting him

Chose to protect his father who maimed him

For that, he’ll give you up for lent

Ugly passion, you’re poison to him

Stood there and watched; shit beat from him literally

Leave Facebook messages, ‘My Paco’

Be assured, accomplishments he made were in spite of you

He should’ve blocked you on multimedia long ago

An object fit to reject

Bitch, let me break it down

Don’t contact him

He won’t contact you

Outing you is the best I can do

I officially out you for your abuse, neglect,

Your surrender to sadism

Witnessed and personally done

I out you, I do

Out you, I do

I out you, I do

It is the best I can do …do …do…