Embracing My Beautiful Complexion: Triumph over Colorist Taunts

shades of brown

my complexion is better than ever.
a smooth chocolate brown color
but i remember in high school
fellow peers called me blackie.

a majority of african descent
a minority took the piss out of me.
my shade was darker than theirs.

one day i’d had enough.
i retorted back at Colin:

you can’t talk. your daddy so black
you can’t see him after midnight!
childish i know. i felt better. & now,
my complexion is better than ever.

poem: sprawling shells on the high school playground