City High School, Annie Holub's class

Audio file

City High School, Annie Holub's class

Walls can divide anyone 

It’s more gray than it is black and white 

Walls are a neutral force  
whose purpose is only to separate;  
whether they be man from monster, 
or mother from child. 

Walls are only barriers if you see them that way 

Walls can be used to protect or restrict.  
They are both open and closed.  
Walls are built on purpose never on accident,  
but sometimes that purpose gets lost along the way  corrupting the original desire of the person building the wall.
But even so  
it is what the wall actually does that is important  
not what the original intention was,  
‘cause an intention does not affect others  
it is the outcome that does. 

Walls soak up blood, 
but my tears simply  
slip down. 

It’s more gray than it is black and white 

Balloons and voices float over like the monarch butterfly. 

Culture can reach across physical boundaries. 

The border inspires resistance and altruism. 

It’s more gray than it is black and white 

The land we stand on holds border-less stories.  
We can re-name the land,  
scrape lines in the dirt,   
put up darting metal walls,  
but the thick roots in the dirt will always be indigenous,  
the land will never be the colonizers’,  
the land will never know that it is "mexico" or "america"
it just is.