A Melanin Queen in Quarantine

My eyebrows are thick, my nose is wide, my cheeks are fat, I have dark brown eyes.

My lips dipped in chocolate, my body in gold, my hair full of curls, armpit length on my clothes.

I don’t need someone to tame my mane, to fill in my nails, or acknowledge my frame...

I don’t need someone to watch me strut, catcall to me while they gesture my butt.

I’ve wiped off my makeup, put my hair in a bun, threw on a tshirt I’m loving this one....

The woman who quarantine taught to be still, to love on myself and literally Netflix & chill.

To all of my women begging for salons, to open their doors to be the first ones...

Your God-given beauty is more than enough, on days you’ve “tried” and days you call “rough”....

Embrace what you have and all that you are, you’re a queen without frills and an unfiltered star.

So even if the doors are to remain closed neither your beauty, your light, nor your Queendom goes. ❤️

Ashley K. Anderson