Soft For You

Written by Demi Echezona

If I could I would go back and unscuff knees I would unburn palms I would unbite my tongue I would be soft for you If it weren’t too late I would cry at the end of that movie - you know the one where they find each other when everyone thought they wouldn’t - I would take painkillers on the first day of my period instead of trying to tough it out I would tell my auntie she pulled my hair too tight (save myself some edges) I would ask my mother if I could sleep in her bed after that night I would’ve blocked my dad sooner But because I am the meat you forgot to take out the freezer, because I am a guitarist’s calloused fingertips, because I am I am muscle and grit and bone and acid because I am black and queer and woman and alone And because you are just fallen snow and freshly baked bread because you are baby skin and cotton jumpers – it is too late for us It always has been