Rainbow Cover, Black Spine

“Rainbow Cover” was originally released with my conceptual video, The Sable Dragonfly: An Ode to My Black Female Body, which I have also attached. I was not out when I made the film, so I wanted to release the original poem, with my full truths here for this competition.

Rainbow Cover, Black Spine

my skin is a hue of blue.

royal,

deep and full.

signifying the blood in my veins from

the kings and queens I descend from.

my hair is a luscious green.

the color of our Mother

before Man defiled her.

ever-growing and wild,

untamed and soft,

with hidden secrets and mirth.

my eyes bare a golden glow.

luminescent and beautiful,

timeless and strained...

shining the lights of heaven to illuminate the night.

my spine is a beaten black.

muddied.

bruised.

blocked.

tender to the touch with footprint tattoos

that decorate my decaying vertebra.

grazed with the scraps from

“Progression”—

all lives matter until you’re the latter...

Black,

Queer,

Female.

and yet,

my skin remains the shade of royalty,

and my hair, the shade of nature.

with my eyes reflectant like sun,

i’m still standing,

lifting you up.