soft magic.

by Upile Chisala

I am dripping melanin and honey. I am black without apology.

please tell your dark daughters that they are loved.

here you are, black and woman and in love with yourself. you are terrifying. they are terrified. (as they should be).

remind your little girls with kinks in their hair and skin as dazzling as the night sky that they too are miracles, that they too are warriors. remind their little souls of the goddesses they are always meant to be.

I must warn you, there is soft juju at work in my thighs.

4. Boys are boys and men are mean, tell them apart.

5. Be alone often, as you are, but don’t that turn into loneliness.

please….. feed your sons the same softness you feed your daughters.

Little boys with sunshine in their giggles are being mistaken for men because their bodies were built like those of warriors.

girl, who taught you to be so silent? to fold your opinion back into your mouth so neatly?

darling, remember to run from men who promise you completion. you are already whole.

sir, for nine months you too swam in mother blood. tell me, how do you manage to hate a woman with every bone in your body?

don’t let the first time your daughter hears you’re proud of her be at her wedding.

Fall for yourself, shamelessly.

here we are, black and in love with ourselves and they spite us for it.