all of mankind originated from the womb of africa. pulsating, undulating, and fragrant was the pit of berries and roses with cumin and gingerroot deep in its fertile, honeyed, soil.

• hello sista sunshine the birds remaining near the nest formed cocoa skin, woolen hair, and tea-black eyes to steel them under aunty sun’s tight embrace. our sisters and brothers who flew further away needed milk in their skin and hair that could wrap a neck when the chill of leaving home permeated the air.
• miss you the velvet people emerged moist from the soil closest to the equator with a wild, sensitive nature. further out north where the wind whipped your cheeks into blushing, found the ivory men and woman, appearing calmer in nature.
• ice and fire some say they’re colder. i say i like their sophistication. they say they like our jazz. but our jazz is theirs. and their sophistication is ours. because we are each other.
• tap into yourself the nymph cried for she wasn’t a mermaid and he did not hear her song. her tongue was thick and no matter how hard she tried, hers was a voiceless lullaby.
• moonlight sonata he told me there was no real difference between velvet and ivory people: “we’re just better at being assholes.” i believe he was telling me he loved me.
• christopher she beat me just like her father beat her just as he’d been beaten. lied to me just like she had been lied to.
• the unloved daughter the unloved daughter’s name was echo. she was darker and less beautiful than hurricane.
• and mother set the grounds for narcissus whatever you told echo, she received. she only lived to serve, for that, she thought, was her only purpose. and her innocence protected her at first.
• echo If You love poetry like that of Rupi Kaur and Amanada Lovelace you will love "Lovely Difference." Taking the form of a raw and poignant memoir, Lovely Difference: A Book of Light and Shadow explores the truths about romance, hate, and being black in the western world. But it doesn't stop just there. Breathtaking and honest, this work of poetry is a love letter to all people, wrapped in sparkling, sympathetic prose. SECTIONS: foreword act i: the slave’s daughter act ii: the coldest jungle act iii: the crazy black woman act iv: the anatomy of peace