Black Women (sestina)

What is the typical black persona?

Is it the coarseness of their hair,

Or is it the immaculate width of their nose?

Perhaps the chocolatey tint of their skin

Or is it the hanging gravitational force of their lips?

Maybe it is the difficulty of arriving on time.

He could care less about the time

He finds beauty within their skin.

Secretly lusting for those soft lips,

Wanting to frolic in her thick hair,

Seeing nothing but beauty in her broad nose

And longing to share with that earnest persona.

I devote hours and hours at a time
to enjoy a head full of rich thick hair
or to have the width, and beauty of your nose.
If only I could be that persona,
because I too long for the thickness and darkness of your skin
or the fullness and beauty that protrude from your lips.

There is nothing sexier than the heart shape of a black woman’s lips.
Their sweetness and softness, that leave kisses on my nose,
used to smell her meals of her devoted time.
I love the depth and richness of her skin,
and the genuineness of her persona.
My weakness: The way I can always rub my fingers through her hair

I don’t have the straightest hair,
But words of wisdom flow from these lips
the plight of black women I can sense with this nose,
a sense that God has helped me develop over time
You may not like my persona,
but I, honey child, am comfortable in my silky skin.

But does God judge us by our skin?’

Is a really big factor truly our lips?

Perhaps a substantial part is our persona.

Or does he put in consideration the trouble with time?

Did He purposely institute such thick hair?

And a great, broad nose?

I devote hours and hours at a time
to enjoy a head full of rich thick hair
or to have the width, and beauty of your nose.
If only I could be that persona,
because I too long for the thickness and darkness of your skin
or the fullness and beauty that protrude from your lips

-Erin