Black Boy Painted Butterfly
       

Your back compels us to gawk.
Transfixed, we follow your flutter,
ballerina. You pirouette across ponds,
onto petals, symmetric, angles etched
in your skin, crimson splatters vibrant,
geometric shapes dance on your spine.

Watch the orange of your cape
glimmer in the sun, the way your wings
wave so graceful it makes them dizzy.
Landing on the edge ofleaves so soft
as if to kiss. Then leaving again,
never settled in your last spot
for fear of being landlocked.

This block wants to make you showpony,
a painted toy, circus animal
with playful face, each wingtip lined
with rouge, each dot a place for more
blush. You always run before opening
night, always looking for the next street
corner to make your stage.

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Copyright © 2022 Khalisa Rae All rights reserved
from Ghost in a Black Girl's Throat
Red Hen Press
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission