Woven

People ask me

what I'm mixed with

like I'm supposed to reach into the tapestry of my ancestry

and pulll something out like there's no kind of beauty

in just being black

almost like they meant to ask

me to push aside the black part

of me and paint it some other color

but I find I don't want to

because black is beautiful. 

Now when I was young and had low self esteem

thought ugly the most beautiful part of me

like I used to hate the color brown

and how every time I looked down

I would see it all over my skin.

I would pretend

sometimes I was Mexican

but couldn't speak Spanish

or white 

since I didn't fit into my own community right

outcast by the color of my speech

and skin as if I went to the store and stitched it on me

Inside of me, begged a girl

to be seen and heard

as a strong black woman I knew I would become

strong as Lucy Terry Prince when she defended

the right to good education for her son

as thoughtful as Zora Neale Hurtson

free and protective of my identity like Janie

strong willed as Sojourner Truth

when she escaped to freedom with her baby

full of action like Frances Lee Harper

as lively as Alice Walker. 

And when that strong woman came alive,

I embraced her with so much pride.

So this lightt skinned sister

grabs the hand of my dark skinned sister

so that we may understand 

that we are rich in diversity but from the same land.

So when you ask me

what I'm mixed with

I'll unfold my tapestry 

and tell you the darkest parts of me.