A Song Once Unsung:
Inspired by Langston Hughes’ “I, Too”
Nicole Dipre
I, too, sing America.
I would be the girl,
but I am not sewing and washing.
I am not “preparing” for my future husband.
Do not send me to the kitchen.
Do not think that what I express is to impress.
Do not see me as the shadow of a man,
nothing better, far behind, and after him.
And most of all, do not silence me.
Do not invalidate the lyrics of my song,
because my song belongs to me and no one else, too.
My song will not be of the daughter,
the wife, or the mother.
I will be the strong mechanic.
I will be the carpenter, the mason, the boatwoman,
the shoemaker, the hatter, the wood-cutter, the plough girl.
Then, they will see my power, my strength,
my locked away abilities, my potential,
and they will be ashamed.
I, too, am America.