Skin shallow, or: Beauty

Poetry Partners #182

‘Beneath the Skin’, a poem by Ancy Johny of ‘Many Heads In One’

Crammed in glass jars
Arrived queen saffron
“Hush, hush” they said
Passing to the mother
“Get a baby that’s white”
Giggled, a set of kinfolks

Innocence gushed out
Whenst the baby chuckled
Her brown skin glowed
Like a stone, devoid of guile
Knowing nothing of demons
And a destiny, already built

Damsels danced with her
Across aisles of classrooms
Whirling and tripping
Only to be pushed
To the last by a mistress
“Brown comes last”, said she.

In the stage
queued up, sweet lads
Chortling and cackling
Who, with a script
Sang in a chorus
Of how dark a girl she was!
Mourned the tiny heart
With a lump in the throat
Squeezing face in pillows;
Silent walls bore witness
To this act, many a night!

Beneath the skin
Light, dark or deep
Was a girl, raw and tender
But she was, in every sense
More than just a color!

• Many Heads In One: http://ancyjohnywrites.wordpress.com/

A ‘Cadralor’ by ben Alexander of ‘The Skeptic’s Kaddish’

I.

A young new mother in Zimbabwe 
smiles up at her British husband, 
relieved, 'Isn't he beautiful? 
He looks just like you.'

II.

Jealously, a woman watches her younger, 
Caucasian half-sister getting her 
beautiful, flaxen hair 
done before her wedding.

III.

Before morning classes, 
a Jordanian university student 
carefully applies brightening lotion, 
light foundation and powder.

IV.

YouTube pops up with a video 
documentary on vaginal bleaching; 
'What!? No way...' 
but the Indian teen isn't really surprised.

V.

Fed up with her near-lifetime of using 
chemical relaxers and pressing products,
an American woman goes natural 
and wears her hair in microlocs.

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Let’s write poetry together!

When it comes to partnership, some humans can make their lives alone – it’s possible. But creatively, it’s more like painting: you can’t just use the same colours in every painting. It’s just not an option. You can’t take the same photograph every time and live with art forms with no differences.

–Ben Harper (b. 1969)

Would you like to create poetry with me and have a completed poem of yours featured here at the Skeptic’s Kaddish? I am very excited to have launched the ‘Poetry Partners’ initiative and am looking forward to meeting and creating with you… Check it out!

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List of Poetry Partners