Michael, Poetry by Darlene Laboy

Genre: Friendship. Biracial. Love.

Michael by Darlene Laboy

I like to watch
This one kid in class
His grandmother’s black
His grandfather’s white
And I love to see his skin.
His past.
Fighting for dominance
On the edges.
Like three hundred years
Was not enough.
Like billions of lives
And years of racism
Doesn’t affect
The universe of his skin follicles
I see the fight in his skin
Clearer than I see all the dark faces
Behind all the gray cells
I want to beg his pigmentation:
Don’t give up
We’ve won this war once.
I don’t think he knows
His importance.
I’m hoping this will find him.
He gives my sunembraced
skin
Hope.
His skinDancing
birds under the summer sun
Makes me feel
Accomplished
Milk chocolate
In bleached sugar
Never have I
Seen something so savory.
To have this constant war
Under your clothes
Constant explosions
Over your heart
Must…