You said I reminded you of the struggle
You said my hands were cold iron around your neck
You said my touch felt like the blazing sun upon your lathered skin
You said my kiss tasted like the salty layer of sweat and tears upon your face
You said my voice sounded like a forgotten language
You said my skin was a conquered land
You said my scent was of branded flesh
You said my heart beats mis-remembered drums
You said my love was oppression
When you look at this silhouette, what do your lens see?
My love , Can you, take a clear picture and print out little ones with me.
Can you sculpture you and I, I and you in one of the chambers of your heart,
preferable the oxygenated part so that I'm alive in your lungs,
becoming part of your inhale and exhale.
This permanent, irremovable color that cloaks my skin
obscures the thoughts of the mind,
You said my hands were cold iron around your neck
You said my touch felt like the blazing sun upon your lathered skin
You said my kiss tasted like the salty layer of sweat and tears upon your face
You said my voice sounded like a forgotten language
You said my skin was a conquered land
You said my scent was of branded flesh
You said my heart beats mis-remembered drums
You said my love was oppression
When you look at this silhouette, what do your lens see?
My love , Can you, take a clear picture and print out little ones with me.
Can you sculpture you and I, I and you in one of the chambers of your heart,
preferable the oxygenated part so that I'm alive in your lungs,
becoming part of your inhale and exhale.
This permanent, irremovable color that cloaks my skin
obscures the thoughts of the mind,
as I worry about my future relationships in this judgmental world.
People don't realize what color does to you.
Like eyes, it sees discrimination or allows access,
like ears it listens to hurt while gorging in compliments,
like this one "you looking fine ma'a"
I told you my hands pulled the tides of renewal to shore
I told you my touch dripped with gold
I told you my kiss was life-giving water, soothing all wounds
I told you my voice rings with the timbre of my mothers before me
I told you my skin was a warm brilliance, the sun dipped in chocolate,
I told you my scent was carried on the winds of change
I told you my heart beats to the infinite rhythms of life and death
My love is liberation
My eyes wake to the sight of my husband's countenance,
so aroused am I that I want his eyes to see all the exposed chocolate of me.
Motionless his dreams are of immense chemical interactions, molecular evolutions,
or plain old Eros black love.
Tempted to chisel at his beard, I watch his breathing instead.
I try to time the start and end of our relationship, the milliseconds,
the lightening speed of shooting estrellas.
This is rare you know?
Only happening once like me and you, you and I
We are standing elegant yet exposed, knowing yet naive, ready but hesitant.
We are standing as sisters.
-Stacy Uchendu & Arnelle W.
People don't realize what color does to you.
Like eyes, it sees discrimination or allows access,
like ears it listens to hurt while gorging in compliments,
like this one "you looking fine ma'a"
I told you my hands pulled the tides of renewal to shore
I told you my touch dripped with gold
I told you my kiss was life-giving water, soothing all wounds
I told you my voice rings with the timbre of my mothers before me
I told you my skin was a warm brilliance, the sun dipped in chocolate,
I told you my scent was carried on the winds of change
I told you my heart beats to the infinite rhythms of life and death
My love is liberation
My eyes wake to the sight of my husband's countenance,
so aroused am I that I want his eyes to see all the exposed chocolate of me.
Motionless his dreams are of immense chemical interactions, molecular evolutions,
or plain old Eros black love.
Tempted to chisel at his beard, I watch his breathing instead.
I try to time the start and end of our relationship, the milliseconds,
the lightening speed of shooting estrellas.
This is rare you know?
Only happening once like me and you, you and I
We are standing elegant yet exposed, knowing yet naive, ready but hesitant.
We are standing as sisters.
-Stacy Uchendu & Arnelle W.