Honey & Spice

by Bolu Babalola

flicking a quick gaze down me that felt like he was striking a match against my body.

These clubs were full of hip-hop and white kids that rapped along to it—but when faced with too many real, breathing Blacks that weren’t confined to a consumable form of entertainment for them, they panicked.

Too much Black would make them feel too white.

The labor of a Black woman in this society really is unending.

Also, that is not coffee, it’s a sundae.”

My heart was not enough, you had to break our sons’ too?’

Malakai’s grin competed with the autumn sun,

Our laughter was a featuring artist on every banger and it made it better.

This was of course under the misguided notion that Zack wasn’t obsessed with the sound of his own voice.

I released the breath I hadn’t even known I’d been holding,

Ugh