White Girl

I am a minus
A blank
A missing something
I am stupid and sexual
I am easily discarded
Before you go to find your wife

I am a thing to be stared at
Handled
Jeered
Flirted

I am a flavor you think you should
Take a lick from
Before you settle down for a real meal.
The way your camera eyes click
At me
Is blinding

Slurp like soup
White women’s skin some kind of
Colonial drapery

The way you consume my sisters
Those other flavors—
A slut. A nothing. A wife.
You make us feel like
All the shades of ugly.

You slop out
These gushy insides
With an ice-cream scoop.
You teach us to hate each other
Ourselves.

And I know I’m not a minus
Or a blank to write your stories on
But still I feel
I’m                  missing something.

Artwork by Wayne Thiebaud "Cakes"