See past my scars and imagine dewy skin that was never laced with angry fingerprints

See past my unshed tears blocking hazel drops reflecting everything I feel and think,

See gray strands and imagine thick coils of youth

It wasn’t so long ago I wore heavy braids down past

My shoulders but when he yanked me because I talked back,

I put a scissors to the roots; I was safer without my locs.

So see past the bald spots or if necessary,

Imagine me an eel, slippery through time

Imagine me a name that hovers over life’s dotted line,

Looped, cursive, never letting go of a part

Tall, proud even when all I had left was a heart

Full of dreams, even when a stuffed pocket broke away from the seams

And spilled everything on angry, filth-lined streets,

I clutch my dreams close,

Fit them where they stay firm the most

And now I want you to close your eyes and see what I could still be

Want that when you think of love, you imagine me.

 Copyright (C)  2017 Karen Wright