Black bodies are honeysuckle
For dry white lips
Sweet tender stalks
Crushed between towers of broken ivory
You crush my spine
To taste the nectar inside
Tear into my flowers,
The Eden, nestled between my thighs
Rip open my leaves
And drink the milk under my tongue
Black bodies are honeysuckle
For parched white mouths.
Soft golden blooms
Ripped apart by bloody hands
You squeeze my flesh
For every drop of sweet
Test the softness of my skin
Caress the canvas to my soul
Choke the song out of my throat
To lick the honey off my lips
Black bodies are honeysuckle
For scorched white gullets
All we ask
Is that you open your mouth
To speak for Black bodies
As eagerly as you suck them
Tifara Brown was born and raised in the Deep South and has been writing original poetry since 2013. She has shared her poetry on the TEDx stage and competed across the country in the art of spoken word. Tifara is a published poet with work appearing in online and print magazines, and she recently self-published a book of poems entitled Honeysuckle: Poems and Stories from a Black Southerner in memory of her ancestor who was a victim of racial violence. She is passionate about storytelling and uses her words as a vehicle for advocacy for the BIPOC community.