In appreciation of participating, teaching, and being interviewed by Dr. Pat at the Northwest Women’s show, I am posting a favorite poem of mine. Perhaps not my best, but one I have felt to be the most central description of how I feel. I wrote this in 2000 and it was the title poem of a little chap book I published then. Thank-you Dr. Pat, Linda, Kathryn, Kimisha, Ande, Stephanie, Heather, Michele and the people of the NW Women’s show!
If the Sky Was Pink
Would little boys be afraid to wear blue?
If the sky was pink
would women roam the earth half naked
with nipples tanned blending with sand?
If the sky was pink
would the sun still be yellow
The hills green or golden?
If the sky was pink
would the sunset be blue
my bruises red
my broken heart a dusty rose?
If the sky was pink
would white men be paying the price
for third-world control
sitting hoping to be called upon?
would the stock market be on door street
flooded with women and a few men with back-less shirts exposing shoulder blades
to distract and allure?
If the sky was pink
would men prefer
to nest and cuddle children?
would we assume your doctor
was a black woman
who could barely pay her bills
that it was a firewoman who kicked down the door and saved the baby?
If the sky was pink
would I ask to be held?
instead of running
into the world for money?
Would women initiate love
then fall into unconscious neglect?
If the sky was pink
Would short people be favored?
Thin people avoided?
The elderly heard?
Would there be no people at all
or would people be tested by rodents
their birth filmed behind bars while
rodent children ate blue cotton candy?
If the sky was pink
How would we harvest, eat, and play?
Would men cook and clean?
Or pray for the luck of having a servant?
Would exotic vacations be free and boring?
Would we fantasize about winning
a truckload of seeds?
If the sky was pink
would I still need you
want to feel important
need a place to belong?
Would I seek a home, a community
want my contribution valued?
Would I need to feel beautiful
have my body desired
as I desire yours, and yours?
If the sky was pink
would I still need a nap
my teeth brushed
my body bathed
my heart pumping,
pushing blood through all of me?
Would I need to eat
better and better each year
to avoid the failures of my ancestors?
If the sky was pink
would I more easily see
how beautiful you look with rosy skin?
see you here within me
would I rest on my hammock
remember why I am here?
If the sky was pink
would I be more like you
or would little boys
just be afraid
to wear blue?
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