Eleven Months

Tuxedo

Because of you,

I have these holes in my heart.

What will you do now that you

have successfully murdered me

you killed my body

and raped my soul so many times

that when I try to destroy myself -

all I can smell is a home.

I want to know what kind of cufflinks

you will match with your suit

on the morning when

they lower my casket

into the earth.

Bullets in my skull

would have hurt better

than this.
---

Remarkable

I am Hips I am LIPS I am THIGHS

I am beauty

If I wanted to, I could spread

my legs apart

Stretching every muscle I harbor

and feel no pain.

I am Melanin I am ROBUST

I am Proportionally Shaped

There are women who want

to look like me

shivering in plastic surgeon offices

flipping through tabloids,

and weeping.

When it is sunshine and 90 outside

I glow

When it is nighttime and cool

I shimmer.

My Breasts are like little planets

Nipples like chocolate morsels

A single taste and a person would

fall through the universe.

Labia lips like sugar

Inner thigh like coffee

and the perfect place

for you to warm your ears.

No matter how many of

my crystal tears

crash into glass

wept over my massive Ass

Body Rolls and Arm Scars

I will strive to remember this:

I am Hips I am Lips I am THIGHS

I am Beauty

I am Remarkable.
---
Ugly Black Girl

Kinks, coils, and hot combs

I grew up enigmatic

smelled of cocoa butter

smeared and slicked in Vaseline

but my Blackness was

a black sheep

in a herd of black sheep

I was always sheepish.