Written October 2020

I knew a girl who was born under pressure, the water forcing her down.

Her parents created her from their bed of sweet lies & somber lullabies.

Before the girl's birth, her parents poured the weight of their world into the belly where she grew.

Her fathers anger & desperation, her mother's anguish & hurt. 

For being a Black man & a Black woman of their kind meant struggling to survive.

Always suppressing ,

Fear 

Suppressing 

Pain

Suppressing 

Abuse 

Suppressing

Yet this girl did survive.

She was born into their world 

of daggers & moonless nights.

She was a child of her environment.

Her tongue

sweet, lulled in the ones who would lay her down.

Her tongue

swift, tearing down anyone in front of her. 

Her brown thighs,

promising late nights & early mornings.

Her hair wild & untamed, 

framed her high cheekbones.

Her almond eyes always fierce,

aware of every detail, 

how people are when they lie, when they're scared, when they love.

She was a city, alluring & thrilling.

Women like her are what wars 

were fought over. Many would visit her city.

No one told her very few would

fight for her.

It was far easier to stay a night & go. 

For love required courage & patience, & she couldn't 

ask for something she didn't know how to give.

So she suppressed it all, 

her fears,

her pain,

her loneliness. 

She wore it all so well.

Then one afternoon,

A lover of hers came and

made a war out of her land.

So she burned the city down

and collected the ashes as she left.

- Alexus Fay Poetry