pierce this sultry night ...
a black kid
in the long shadow
of a white cop
behind my back
they whisper slanted eyes ...
in a dream
I unzip my skin,
put on another
Highly Commended, 5th Kokako Tanka Competition, 2014:
(Commentary by the judge, Owen Bullock: In "behind my back," the effect of verbal abuse is communicated in striking fashion, through a dream, which somehow connects us all. -- excerpted from Kokako, 22, 2015)
Note: "Under the Skin" is the second themed section of Blueline and Red Thread, the first collection of sociopolitical tanka." And you can read the preceding tanka here.
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