This Body

This body is black

This body is dark in the Winter and darker in the Summer.

This body is invisible.

This body feels afraid sometimes.

This body knows it doesn’t belong

This body knows what it’s supposed to be.

But this body decided to be beauty and power instead.

This body is woman

This body don’t always feel like a woman.

This body prefers baggy jeans and hoodies.

This body has curves that few people notice.

This body feels like it has to be everything that it isn’t.

This body must be clean, and hairless, and natural, and tight, and perky, and curvy, and…

This body is tired.

This body is (supposed to be?) sexy

This body knows how to throw it back.

This body feels powerful when it moves.

This body feels confident when it’s watched,

This body wants to feel this way more often.

This body is exhilarated in the dark on a Saturday night,

But this body feels wrong everywhere else.

This body doesn’t like strange hands

This body doesn’t move like that for anyone.

This body stiffens at the familiar hand of a stranger requesting a dance.

This body regrets wearing a dress this short.

This body feels shame.

This body feels suffocated in steamy, dark rooms surrounded by sweaty, desperate hands.

This body needs air.

This body is respectable

This body is covered up.

This body sits up straight.

This body tries to prove that just because it’s black doesn’t mean it’s not human.

This body tries to contain itself.

This body tries to protect itself.

This body needs protecting

This body is Mine

This body speaks to God, curled up in bed, hands clasped together, desperate.

This body has too much on its plate.

This body is exhausted.

This body is cracking.

But this body heals, too.

This body will heal itself and do it all again.

This body will be it all again.