Painted Red (By Danny Kaunda)

“Painted Red” or “Painted Wrong” simply means reality has been twisted by certain individuals to suit their own interest. From the beginning of this poem, you can easily feel that Danny ‘s soul is troubled. He is fighting a war within himself to either let what has been said about him be, or speak out to let the truth out.

PAINTED RED
(By Danny K Kaunda )

Bruises on my heart
I triumph in dispute with my soul;
My conscience ridicules me-
Mostly am fighting against Me.
My smile is an agenda of agony,
My laughter is a curve of pain.
The world is a den of lions
Human beings cannot be trusted;
Bitches are not only female dogs!
My smooth talk is never Innocent.
A path for me was chosen;
Stepping on thorns and scorpions
Sweat and blood marks my identity.
I flash back then forward
Then tell myself
U deserve better than this – or am I just a coward?
Forget whatever else you have heard
The whole thing has been painted red.

ABOUT THIS POEM

Danny deliberately wrote this piece in Free Verse form in order to make his point. When one is trully frustrated or being pushed in a position where they feel they are being oppressed, they usually end up saying words that are not properly matched, hence the idea here which the poet is trying to bring accross to the readers mind.
However, the poem itself is a personal battle between opinions that runs through ones mind as a result of the influence from the other people and circumstances.

As Danny puts it, he is at war against himself, this simply means he wants to do one thing, at the same time he has another opposing opinion regarding the same decisions he is about to make. This throughs him in a weired position because the battle starts within himself even though the influence comes outside from those that wish to destroy him.
In the end of it all, he accepts that he is just human, and he can be anything depending on the situation and time.