When you look at me (Kim)

When you look at me
Am I always a black woman.
They tell me to pick the roses.
I smell roses. I eat them, suck them,
ruffle them on my face
letting the taste be
Taken with my tongue.

My mother used to tell me that
there was nothing more sweet smelling
than me. She called me rose from the beginning.
I thought I was a flower before I knew I was a person.
Then one day your sister hit me hard.
I didn’t look right to her. How my hair was.

I have the seeds in my pocket.
Now don’t go calling me if you have nothing to say.
Time is more precious than my loving you.
It’s time to plant the roses. The muster of sawing
the sun in two. One for each side of my dark face.
I can turn the heads on candy wrappers.
It’s my freedom.

-Kim Irwin
Draft © 2005 K. Irwin All Rights Reserved