Brownskin Poem by Rae Edson

She dared to apologise on my behalf,
she dared to ignore the slight
offending my brown skin.
She smiled. And shrugged her shoulders.
-please forgive my friend-
she said, with a crooked contempt filled half- smile.
And in her eyes i was just another embarrassment.
Another angry brown skin.
So they quote their psuedoscience. And
they try to justify
400 years of...bullshit.
And they hide behind
perceived superiority.
And they say
-i don't see race-
well, i say,
look at my skin like muscovado sugar,
sweet, sweet on your brother's pink tongue.
And while he ran his tanned hands through my kinky dark hair
and he whispered my foreign name,
in my tickled, reddened ear.

my belly filled and grew taut.
The life inside?
Was brown like me.