blonde curls bounce in a sea of black hair

blonde curls bounce in a sea of black hair
an oddity, the dominant minority
is it soft? or is it brittle?
a brown hand extends to cop a feel
gold colored like gifted dowry jewels
sparkling in the Indian sun

it’s laughable – the reach, the feel
harmless and innocent, bold curiosity
and yet strange, to be so
different

natural brown eyes gaze upon
blue eyes – their colors unchanged by lenses
in case you were wondering
if blue eyes are real.

an oddity, but a commodity
fair and lovely is a virtuous thing
friendly brown hands glide over pale skin
desired pale skin purchased in a bottle
at a cost to health and ethnic pride

when they say “I wish I looked
like you.” I shrug, and offer
“skin is skin. Love what you are
in.”

which is easy to say when you’re
fair and lovely
with gold colored hair
and eyes like the sea.

//

In honor of Poetry month, I'm going to be posting a couple of my poems that have been posted or printed in various spaces. I'm doing this mainly for my own organization.