Skin-Whitening Cream and Soaps

All you white-skinned men and women

Showing off on the television’s tinsel domain

Makes me wonder if a black man or woman

Has a place in this land of dark God Neelkantan.

I shake my head and in I groan in pain

God! What have I done to deserve this bane?

You created this land of dark people and Gods

And dipped them in tubs of skin-whitening suds.

Now all I see are dark faces white-washed

Hair as if streaked with rays of golden sunlight

Creams that promise white skin in a week

With which you can marry a stud, not a geek.

Girl on television you may be a big star

But beneath the discolored skin you are hiding a scar

The way God created you is on hold

With skin-whitening creams you have been sold.

Yes, they say the cream sells more than aerated drinks

Thirst is nothing so far as you don’t look like Michael Spinks

Armed with cream and umbrella you must march

Down the ramp to celebrate the Ides of March.