if i could color you dark,

i would.

you’d be just like me, a paranoia queen—

your heart always racing,

your ears always keen

for the bigoted men whispering.

if i could color you dark,

i would.

you’d learn how they see you young,

how to push when others hate,

how to live when a brother’s been hung—

you’d learn to carry that weight.

if i could color you dark,

i would.

you’d feel that bullet in your chest

as they wear that silent pin.

they trade your brown skin best

for the unarmed cost of melanin.

if i could color you dark,

i would.

you’d see your dark as the villian—

how they turn when they can’t profit.

white privilege starts to fill in

while your people take the grand hit.

if i could color you dark,

i would.

so you could know the pain is true—

so you could know the hurt it spits

as your color is returned to you

and my skin can’t be purged of it.

I See

I see dark red spilling out

On the concrete grounds.

It’s not mine this time, I say,

It’s not mine.

I see dark red filling the streets,

People are stepping over it.

They don’t want to touch it, they say,

They don’t want to touch it.

I see dark red drying in the crevices

Of the blue man’s shoes.

That boy was no good, he says.

That boy was an animal, he says.

That boy was reaching, he says.

That boy was a black man.

I see dark red spilling out

On the concrete grounds

And I wonder how long I got

‘Till I see my own dark red,

Right there, on the ground,

Drying in the blue man’s crevices.

marginalized

to be black & woman

is to learn how

quick they are

to love you &

how easy it is

for them to

dismiss you.