Sweet like ah suga
h, Hot like ah fyah
I went home from school last winter
And felt the kiss of my country
Warm and sweet
Yet suffocating
She draws away
And her lips speak
In my mother tongue
The aroma of home fills my lungs
I step back and I wonder
If that
Was the only time she’d let
me
kiss
a
girl
I’ve fought many wars
For and against my country
Push and pull
Her against me
Me against her
Us against the world
I fight wars on sandy beaches
Blood stained tourist paradise
White sand’s
not made for black flesh
When you’re queer
I fight wars for
The right to my native tongue
Stolen from my lips
By the thief of assimilation
So each white body
Finds my fire easier to digest
It’s funny how home and foreign
Can feel so different
Yet so much the same
What does it mean when America feels
home
But Patois feels like childhood
like
I never understand the stories my friends
tell me
About growing up
Cul-de-saced lanes and Kodak smiles
23
ER
EMMA WALK