Pink

By Kimberly Nguyen

Posted on September 1, 2024

Illustration Title: Girl in Pink

Illustration By: Hazel

Classification: Traditional media

Medium: Watercolor

Size: 11 inches x 14 inches

Year: 2024

Pink is the best thing that has ever happened to me

And the worst thing a little girl can lose

I push pink away to impress and fit in with blue

Maybe if I suppress hard enough, I could be as deep as navy-

Sophisticated like the ocean and soar beyond the sky

Though blue dared me, I knew I didn't have the strength own it

So I went neutral

Black and white- the illusionary grey area

It wasn't my choice to be here like they all think;

I'm here because there was nowhere else to go

I was in the rainbow's limbo

I could see pink from my stagnation-

The cotton candy and pink lemonade I would turn down

The dusty hair ribbons I stuffed in my box labeled "Old stuff"

The flowers I eyed at the store while holding the deep red roses

But pink is loyal, lively, and objectively beautiful

Pink carries the sun away and welcomes it back every night and day

We are lucky to capture its beauty before the night consumes it all away

Today, letting pink back in has restored my oomph

Pink reflects my character as a friend/partner,

My vibrancy as a person, and My beauty as a young woman

Description:

The color pink, for many young girls, was introduced to us in childhood. We would receive pink toys, dresses, and/or hair ribbons. As young girls grow older, they realize the bittersweetness of the color pink: pink is a deep-rooted societal norm assigned to women and associated with femininity but it is also what brought us happiness and joy in our earliest years. The poem “Pink” brings us along the poet’s journey of losing and avoiding the color pink in order to resist against that societal norm and then finding her way back to pink, re-owning it and changing the narrative. This new angle on the color pink brings empowerment that is detached from society.  

[Writing Editor: Anonymous]

[The End]