“Vitiligo” for Esther’s Writing Prompts

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Vitiligo*

Mighty sol’s ubiquitous in regions that are tropical,
but when it comes to sunlight, I have news that is more topical.
I’m evidence empirical that all folks aren’t created
to lie out in the sun’s rays until their lust is sated
for skin transposed to honey brown from a whitish hue.
For folks like me, such practices simply will not do.

Unlike my lucky college chums, my best friends and my sister,
when I’m exposed to sunlight, I am more prone to blister.
I see them put their swimsuits on and take turns rubbing oil on,
anxious to go greet the sun to get their bake and boil on,
but once they’re spread out on their towels with all adjustments made,
I’ll be covered up instead, sitting in the shade.

*Vitiligo is a chronic autoimmune disorder that causes patches of skin to lose pigment or color. This happens when melanocytes – skin cells that make pigment – are attacked and destroyed, causing the skin to turn a milky-white color. People with vitiligo have no natural protection from the sun.

The prompt for Esther’s Writing Prompts this week is “Shade.”

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About lifelessons

My blog, which started out to be about overcoming grief, quickly grew into a blog about celebrating life. I post daily: poems, photographs, essays or stories. I've lived in countries all around the globe but have finally come to rest in Mexico, where I've lived since 2001. My books may be found on Amazon in Kindle and print format, my art in local Ajijic galleries. Hope to see you at my blog.

6 thoughts on ““Vitiligo” for Esther’s Writing Prompts”

  1. SRIKANTH's avatarSRIKANTH

    This is a powerful and poignant piece. It skillfully uses personal, relatable imagery—the college chums, the sister, the ritual of sunbathing—to illustrate the profound and isolating reality of a chronic condition.

    The comment from the medical perspective clarifies that the speaker’s need to avoid the sun isn’t a preference but a medical necessity. The “evidence empirical” is the autoimmune destruction of melanocytes, leaving the skin with “no natural protection.” The poem transforms the clinical definition of vitiligo into a lived experience of difference and self-protection.

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