Unicorn Kidz Dance Under the Moonlight, Too
jason b. crawford
Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest 2022 (view all the winners)
Honorable Mention, Tom Howard, Poetry
What is not soft here:
a boy spilling with glitter and gun oil
moon child moves like his mother's tides
a body that is all awkward and legs
we teach them to dance
then tell them it's not natural
to move their hips
what an image to be both
a thug nigga and a bitch nigga
what duality we shotgun into our stomach
grief knotting at the end of the spine
thug niggas ain't bitch niggas
don't be so soft
the streets will scrape
the cotton right out of you
they make a man out of anyone nowadays
boys sparkling like his grandma's gaudy
earrings
dead fish limp wrist boy
dangling from the jaws of the block
left mangled and shimmering
in a rhinestones blood
What is not soft here:
that cannot also be pierced by fangs
we stare the beast in the mouth
and dare it not to bite
dance around his tongue
and wait to be swallowed
my block will never love me back
not until I can produce a body made of less
glitter
So what is not soft here:
that is not also dead
there has to be a place
for all us dead shining boys
i dream of a mother/not mine
contoured and glowing
kissing each one of our
foreheads and saying:
Black boy it's okay to dance
Black boy it's okay to dance
Black boy it's okay to dance
Dance, black boy, dance
They are no longer watching
It's okay, move your hips like the
crashing tide
