CHOCOLATE

Hey, y’all.

For Day 21 of National Poetry Writing Month, the prompt is to:

Write a poem that repeats or focuses on a single color. Some examples for you – Diane Wakoski’s “Blue Monday,” Walter de la Mare’s “Silver,” and Dorothea Lasky’s “Red Rum.”

Here is my poem:

CHOCOLATE

By Farah Lawal Harris, 2024

Oh you, black-black!

They say under full moons,

Black girls shine blue.

Girl, I love the way that skin sparkle on you.

I know them girls of lighter hues be hatin’ on you.

Ooh, shiny eyes, skin and teeth.

That contrast makin me weak.

But that black skin looks strong.

Ayyy, Chocolate! 

Sometimes,

dark skin relegates you

to being described as food.

Ayy, Chocolate!

Smile!

Sweeten my day!

Shawty, swing my way as you sway those hips.

You look like the Mother Earth, girl.

Ooh, you so thick.

Damn, those hips!

Fertile like soil teeming with nutrients.

Let me dig a hole and plant my seed.

Chocolate, give me everything I need.

I don’t wanna be food,

I don’t wanna just be a hue,

a sweet treat,

sometimes bitter delicacy

that they demand to eat,

but refuse to see.

Ayy, Chocolate!

Pardon me.