Come Closer

Come a little closer
And let me taste your soul.
Let me lick along the lines of
Your intellect and taste what nourishment it yields.
Allow me to caress your pride
Until it stands at attention.
Give me permission to massage your mind
And if only for a moment
Mold it to fit me perfectly.
Grant me passage to knead your tenderness
So that it merges well with my own.
Say it's okay that I gently kiss your grace
So that it never wants to leave.
Say I can nibble on your imagination
And make it sing a happy tune.
Come closer.
Let me experience you.

JUSTICE

The Ugly Truth

I feel really fat and ugly. Actually, I have for quite some time. To anyone who says I'm not justified, tell me that after I walk through a mall I used to turn heads in just a few years ago without getting so much as a "How are you" from the opposite sex. Tell me that after I leave a party and no one tries to get my number. Say that when I see a cute dress but I can't buy it because it's short and my thighs will ruin it. I do have skinny friends who tell me I'm beautiful but I think they say it because they think I will kill myself if I don't hear it and they don't want a poor fat girl's death on their hands. While it is flattering to hear, they aren't men and they don't have to date me. And then it makes them look like assholes when we go places and no one talks to me but they brag to me about all of the men who come at them. I love them but I want to choke those skinny bitches when they do that.

Have you ever noticed that people say the dumbest things when they are supposed to be making you feel good about yourself? They say things like "You're a beautiful person" and then they tell you how smart you are. That is all good but I don't know one man who says, "She weighs more than a baby elephant but she really does look smart". I also never hear them say, "Her face is a disaster but she has a good heart. I think I'll marry her". Men, like women are visual. They may admire these things about you later, but you have to have something that hooks you. You can say all you want that looks don't matter. But no one wants to wake up lying next to a nightmare every morning. No one wants to sound shallow but at the same time, you want to be with someone you find attractive and leave the leftovers to themselves.

I really don't know what my hook used to be nor where I lost it. But I do know that I'm kinda tired of waiting on this fence post, staring down the road, just hoping to catch a glimpse of it as it makes its way back.


JUSTICE

Today I Was Black and Proud

So I had to go to city hall for something this morning. They have done a few renovations and everything isn't where it used to be. I knew that I was looking for a certain place but I can imagine I looked really lost trying to find it. I heard a voice from behind me say "What are you looking for, Sister?" I turned around to see a beautiful Black woman with dreadlocks and smiling eyes. She was about 5'3'' but she stood tall and proud. She wore a business suit but a handkerchief of kente cloth peeked out of its pocket. I told her what I needed and she placed a hand on my shoulder and led me to the office, newly positioned at the end of the hallway. Then she said, "And I want you to have a wonderful day, My Sister". Now none of her words were foreign to me, but what struck me was the way she said them. When she said "Sister" and "My Sister", I felt as though the next thing out of my mouth should have been, "So I'll see you at the house for Christmas, right?" She said it as though the connection between her and I was one that she didn't even have to question. And the fact that she took it upon herself to offer a hand and veered off of her own path to come help me was remarkable. Though I didn't gawk at her, there was something about this aging Black woman with light brown skin, a kente handkerchief, dreadlocks with graying roots, smile lines and a face free of makeup that made me feel beautiful. It was something small, but I feel like I truly met family today.



How about you? When was the last time you felt Black and Proud?