| An anomaly I was, waving red rags at a bigoted bull a matador misfit evading the horns and jibes. all the while spectators bayed for the blood of the cull encouraging the beast to gore out my insides. I wore perceived imperfections like hang-mans loops my differences tolled my coming like a leper's bell. The cruellest of archers made a target of my soul inflicted wounds with the arrows of childhood spite. Living had a cost and in happiness I paid the toll in exchange I got malice and misery blurred my sight. I spent my adolescence in the eye of a racist storm where clouds of threatened violence plagued my days. Etched across my mind is this scar tissue of my youth a dark, disfiguring tattoo emblazoned across my brain. A weakness of insecurities now stands arrogant and aloof. Casts a pall of self-derision. Marks my confidence like a stain. A Caucasian father's son, in hue if not in spirit, my maternal Afro genes, in spirit if not in hue. |