naked are my words...i can not hide my truth...
sample my love...
Can I Sing?
listening to India.arie in the shower
rinsing the soap off my skin
she says:
Brown skin,
I love you cause of your brown skin
I can't tell where you begin
I can't tell where I end"
drying off in the mirror
her words still playing in the background
i look at my face,
my face that has been called
every shade of yellow:
"You're the color of piss"
"You light-skinned, whatchu mixed with?"
"High yella, red bone"
i remembered summers
falling asleep in the sunshine
to get toasty brown
envious of the beauty and clarity
of my mother's firey shade of chestnut
i discovered black people could sunburn
smoothing on lotion
i hummed along with India
wondering if i was brown enough to sing.
Your My Flavor
when i saw you
many different ways
did i imagine
exploring your body,
but i chose none
i only wanted a little bit
of your flavor,
so the taste of you
could linger on my lips
even after you'd gone.
Shhh...
don't listen to my words
because words
can't always convey
what i'm feeling
i write these words
about you
hoping that you don't
understand them
secretly hoping that you do
i speak to you silently
my heart
sings to you
cause it's okay to tell you
i love your
through music
unspoken harmony
you are the reason
that i sing.
