True Self by: Rosa Troy, Mixed Media-Resin, 2018
Congregating in the dark alleyway
beneath the burned out streetlight
glad the city hasn’t bothered
(do they ever bother?)
to replace it with garish white haloes
The rushing black of the clean street gutters
carry tasty dark rainwater away
Whispering secrets, we get carried away
the innocence of the darkness
our young bodies, like Easter chocolate
We plot and plan our joys
we swim through the tarnished silver of midnight
running free beneath diamonds set in black velvet
Our strong, dark limbs carry us
We embrace
what makes us beautiful
Halcyon days
before the night of stabbing lights
and dead fish belly faces
pinning us down
burning white cigarettes,
forever, white scars
on the strong, dark limbs that carried us
white smoke, burning eyes, blinded
bright blood-red sirens, cutting white ER light
Savagely embracing
What made us beautiful