“mama, where’s the peach? mama?”

“girl, whatchu need the peach for? use ‘chocolate chip’. right there.”

and i colored it in

my skin etched in crayola

it wasn’t clean, but it was mine

a little outside the lines

i tried not to mind that mine didn’t look like

Ivy’s

​

“get that poison outcha mind, child whatchu mean you need

to look like Ivy?”

​

well

​

she used peach

so did Ethan and

Leah used peach

interchangeably

with ‘skin color’

“can you pass me the ‘skin color”

and she didn’t mean chocolate chip

and i dipped my chocolate hands into a basket full of sand

and pulled out a peach

and called it “skin color”

knowing damn well it wasn’t mine

​

“we are not defined by our hue. not me and not you.

so go’on and use the crayon that you want to use.”

and i picked up the peach

​

and mama frowned

​

and i held the peach up to my mouth

and opened wide

and took a bite

​

and mama smiled

​

and i asked if i could have the chocolate chip