Twenty years ago
The stork laid conception
in the nests of a nightmare
until it cracked ill midnights
as a trusted friend thrust rape
in the baby blues of a white horizon
now known as my mother
confusing shells; until it birthed
a biracial dawn
breaking normality
in the hatched womb
of a Caucasian world
Somewhere in Ohio
A crippled dream mended miracles
in the wake of an angel
tasting of melano
I was bundled and placed
in the cradle
of confused eyes
known to the world as grandpa
He kissed my cheek
the pigment as copper
as the teddy he bought
nine months ago
in the bittersweet discovery
of a mixed heaven
reaching fingers
not the flushed pale of my cousins
He claimed-
I always loved animal crackers
sweet and browned
From that moment I became
my grandpa's cookie
But cookies always crumble
in the spit of sharp toned bites
Ignorance stifled the love
buried within an old-time
Kentucky heart
Grandpa,
became the epitome of racism
and he branded me with a new name
As a little girl, I understood the letter N
but I couldn't understand the meaning
I didn't know why
but grandpa said it made me dirty
and so I hated it
I hated the reflection
that proved I was different
I was alone
in a house full of clean siblings
I was just a reminder
of the cruel nightmare
my mother had to live
I was the offspring of a black man
I was nothing more than the scars
he left on my mother's life
A half-breed
and grandpa made sure I knew
every damn day
But they say
things have a way of working out
and seven years ago
The frozen cries of winter
couldn't drift the melt
of a hurt man's heart
aching to warm
for nine years
Grandpa,
hanging the star
on top the tree
that year
he was tired of refusing
miracles
that truly he felt
blessed
He wondered
why Christmas
always had to be
a white one
No-
this year
he wanted to sing
to angels tasting of melano......
Adding your comment:
I told you I could find a different way to phrase it without offending anyone.
