In Response to MK

She thinks we should just “get over our melanin”.

When you ask the stars
to dull their shine,
they will only sparkle more;
and when you demand that the mountains
should lower their peaks,
they will stand taller and more majestic,
friends to the sky and lords over land;
and when you command the oceans
to stem their tides and to calm their waves,
they will flow even greater and stronger,
unapologetic and without remorse,
awesome in their might,
behemoths of their domain—

So when you ask us
to “disregard our melanin”,
to deny the story
of our skin’s hue,
to ignore both scar and perfection
for the sake of your comfort
(or because of your ignorance)
know that like the stars in the sky
and the mountains up high
and the oceans wide
we will not disregard our color
but rather
we will heed it more,
cast a light upon its brilliance
upon its resilience
and we will reject the notion
of your “request” for what it is:
a spectacle for the senseless and the foolish.



Copy and paste this link https://www.instagram.com/p/DUZvV9yjbjB/ to hear the recitation of this poem on Instagram!