dear white girl

izzy okonji

For Emma Watson + other

beautiful white girls


your color has never been dug before my eyes. your color has not

been shaded by the black balls of my eyes. like tofu, I have never

seen your rest & debris. it is like this, I have not even held you

before. how do I know your secrets? I want to spread them on my

doona. I have not broken you into my palms before. like tofu(s) I

have not seen, I want to make derisions of myself with my tongue:

swinging you from an edge to an edge. darling white girl, catch

that fever again. let your body, like a tofu, lay aching on my palm.

let me unravel your sepia walls. your white body, veiled with any

color it chose to appear in. let me take you in my palms & rest you

below my rafters — it is not far from the lagoon. I will drown you

in psalms; I will clothe you with the hymns that my fathers sang —

like a tofu, I will make you disperse in melon soup. I wish to carve

you to this jungle where the evening is maroon: the hills, running

from recognition, the lagoon, hoping for serendipity. the world is

chequered with black boys & white girls, white boys & black girls.

Izzy Okonji (He / Him) is a Southern Nigerian artist of poetry, storytelling & music. He has works in Brittle Paper & Bruiser Magazine. He listens to music ranging from Nas, the Wu-Tang Clan to Chris Brown, Alicia Keys. He hopes to fulfill his dream of collecting records like Kraig Kallman. He has a special place for Ghanaian songstresses Gyakie & Amaarae in his heart.

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