Consistently
Every time she looks in the mirror, She sees the same thing consistently.
A Woman
Black
Brown
Short
Eyes full of moments
Head round
Nose wide like mama’s arms to embrace you
Lips full of wonder
Skin Flawed, but still beautiful
Arms waiting to be filled with love
Stomach filled with satisfaction
Hips no one can deny
Legs evidence of the strength she carry
Feet ready to carry her as far as God will allow
Her body is actually her pride and joy
No matter how curvy it gets she always manages to find the brilliance in her definitions
No cause for any kind of competition
She loves it
Every time she looks in the mirror she sees the same thing consistenly.
A Woman
Ready but unsure
Confident but insecure
Drenched in sin but still pure
Love is the thing she dreams about the most but her imagination is full of heart break
A pessimist is what her alter ego is.
She stares back at her but, she looks so much like her that sometimes she gets confused.
Brilliance is what she sees in her reflection
And complication
And rejection
Dissatisfaction and objectification
What she sees is a world of bodies threatened by her skin
Threatened by her femininity or her existence
Consistently. It has never changed.
You know what else has always been consistent?
My awareness that this same beautiful skin would make my life… complicated.
Complicated because those on the outside looking in find no beauty in it.
They see the monsters under their bed and bullet holes
They see two-bit hustlers with no goals
They see Sarah Baartman bodies waiting to be devoured
They see nigga boy bodies meant to be bowing
White bodies
The source of my anger and frustration
The reason why I have no desire to pledge allegiance to a nation
That pledges no allegiance to me
Instead, they scatter my blood across neighborhood streets
And cars, and green grass, and highways, and school grounds, and back woods, and government buildings.
Our blood cries out from this patriotic soil louder than Able’s cried out for God
Crying for justice.
Crying for equality
Crying for humanity to awaken and to see us.
Every time she looks in the mirror she sees the same thing consistently.
A woman
Black
Brown
Eyes Full of moments
Head round
Head crowned
Head bowed
From her lips she mouthed
Our Father which art in heaven
We can no longer take this pain
Your kingdom come, your will be done
How long shall we remain
Give us this day our daily bread
So we have strength to attain
Lead us not into temptation
But we can no longer refrain.
Amen