Jeweled, Glittered, Golden

Re-posting a poem I wrote in August of 2019:

the color of my skin

seems to constantly be up for debate

by taxi drivers, random strangers, friends.

the color of my skin

is often described in terms of food:

olive, honey, nut-brown.

the color of my skin

is best described as golden:

precious, jeweled, glittered.

i am not a food;

i am a fabulous treasure.

but whether you call me

gold, honey, olive, or nut-brown,

just don’t call me white,

because:

i’m not