Oh Say Can You See
By the dawn's early light, I think of skin; I think of how
Light can shine through my eyelids no matter how hard I close them.
I question, do they see
a lampshade at a neo-Nazi party?
When I think of eyelids
I pet mine with flower petals soaking.
We soak up the sun's rays to make chlorophyll.
Am I a daisy pushed up after someone has died?
When I think of flower petals
I think of honey bees hovering over the sex organs of flowers
and tongues
of black bears. Am I a black bear starving in the forest for lack of bees?
When I think of black bears
I think of polar bears who have white fur but black skin.
Am I a polar bear starving in the Arctic for lack of ice
and seal prey? When I think of I.C.E. I think of brown
skin, that looks just like mine, trying to make it in America.
Am I American if neo-Nazis are running America?
When I think of America, my body aches
for something more protective than skin. Skin is only skin deep.
Skin is only skin
Deep. Black-Red-Yellow-Brown as brown can be.
Viktoria Valenzuela, "Oh Say Can You See" from Contra: Texas Poets Speak Out. Copyright © 2020 by Viktoria Valenzuela. Reprinted by permission of FlowerSong Press.
Source: Contra: Texas Poets Speak Out (FlowerSong Press, 2020)