Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

Rainbow Queens Unite

A poem for children

Natasha Clark Risk
Nov 4 · 2 min read

I met some people who were Blue.
They sweetly showed me what to do;
they weekly told me what to think,
what not to say, what not to drink.

All their answers Heaven-sent,
they taught me how to be unbent,
and soon enough I learned to find
the other people of our kind:

the words they used, the clothes they wore,
and all the swears they never swore.
“The Greens act bad,” Blue people said,
then silenced questions in my head.

My stomach churned, my chest felt tight,
the things they told me didn’t feel right.
I struck out on my own to find
some truths regarding human kind.


I met the people who were Green.
Their shine had such a different sheen.
But soon they told me what to think,
what I should eat and how to drink.

With all their answers trending wise,
they helped to open up my eyes
and soon I learned how to find
the other people of my kind:

the words they used, the clothes they wore,
the battle scars they brought to war.
“The Blues act bad,” Green people said,
then shamed the questions in my head.

My stomach churned, my chest felt tight,
the things they told me didn’t feel right.
This was the moment I did find
the truest truth of humankind….


We build our tribes at such a price:
cutting once, not measuring twice.
We judge, we scold, we pat our backs,
pretending progress in attacks.

I want to be a Rainbow Queen!
A bit of Blue, a bit of Green,
a lot of Red, and Indigo,
I’ll make more of my judgements slow.

Most every person of each tribe
we can respect if we subscribe
to longer stories, varied sides,
deeper histories, clearer eyes.

We all love water, air and sun,
we love our families, we want more fun.
Let’s use each other’s chosen names
and make more lists of how we’re same.

N.

Natasha Clark Risk

Written by

Ex-Mormon queer-feminist-poly parent of four teens. Typical. Interests: systems thinking, personal development, comedy, poetry, and having people cook for me.

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