Privilege

(this one is not quite done yet...based off a conversation my mother and I had...)

If you are privileged you can do the things

the things the beach boys sing about

surfing and sunning

living out fun

At least that is what my mother thought

as she told me of how grand a scheme her mind could play

about doing the things white kids did

like the beach boys would sing

I asked her why, why didn’t you see that dream possible

well, I guess it was something we didn’t do

something we couldn’t do

Mexicans don’t surf

Yet, I tell her I know some that do.

See she speaks of privilege

of the privilege of the wealthy

things unattainable because they are not us

I ask her if she felt disadvantaged

she says well I suppose

It just seemed so far fetched all those things

Your grandparents couldn’t afford

to take us on fancy trips or buy us the latest things

but my mother she did her best she sewed us lovely things

cute dresses in the latest patterns

but my father he patched my shoes

there was no such thing as anything too old

you see if you are privileged you are allowed nice things

weekend trips and family vacations

to honolulu or paris or rome

you get a new car at 16 with a shiny red bow

yea I have actually witnessed one of those

a shiny expensive new car

sitting in the private school parking lot

while i waited on my mommy, late once again

to pick me up and take me back to the office

so she could make up her time

see if I were privileged as the underlying assumption tends to go

I would truly have been a private school kind of girl

the one with two parents, picture perfect, perhaps a vacation home

but I wasn’t and I’m not, i dreaded free dress cuz I didn’t want to show

I had nothing new to show off

the same as last time. I was better off in that uniform than in regular clothes.