2022 Barrett Winner
4th Place Kalimah Gardner
My
brown eyes
glow in wonder
at this porcelain beauty.
I run
stubby fingers across
her tiny frame.
Admiring the
porcelain beauty
before my
big eyes.
And I smile
ear to ear.
Her swirling curls
dancing like stars on a quiet night.
Landing softly.
Each strand
wondrously
made her more beautiful.
Frazzled
dark coils never seem to take light.
Foolishly,
they’re no stranger to me.
No freckle on her powdered face.
No frivolous lines
stealing her unconquered grace.
Just plain white fields
swaying in the sun.
But dark shadows lay burden hands on my
wishful spirit.
Judgment poking my sides
peering deeper into my hollow shell
“how one could be so beautiful?”
I let
words fly off
my tongue.
Stinging of jealousy. Envy lingers.
I try to color you me
slabbing pigment on canvas.
I paint you brown
till our eyes intertwined.
I sit in disappointment
peering at a stranger
who mocks my skin.
I throw away a damaged beauty,
no longer enticed.
Disgust taints my tongue,
tasting of putrid meat laying under
a boiling sun.
I wished for so long
to be you!
I'd swallowed myself,
forgetting what I taste like.
Now, the sweet taste of brown
coats my throat.
How foolish I was
comparing to a mere plastic
artificial monster.
Who almost scared away
my brown eyes.
My
brown eyes
will never see her again.