Yellow Face
Racism has a face of spite.
It is the tug of a trigger,
And the blow of a bullet against a shattered skull
And teeth grinded beneath a boot
On the cracked concrete claimed to be a sidewalk.
It is two lips plowing,
Melting to one as jawbreakers in the afternoon haze. It is moist, brisk, and a searing burst of ache.
It is an vice of hatred— of cruelty,
As rosy red lips take yours,
And as arms coil themselves around you,
Like a snake,
Or a person in lust.
It is the face of love.
Madeline Rosales has recently won a Gold Key for the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, and has publications of poetry and prose with the Academy of the Heart and Mind, The Odyssey Youth Magazine, The WEIGHT Journal, and many others. She works as a Senior Editor for Polyphony Lit, and as the Chief Editor for her school's literary magazine, the Cardinal Review.