white man asks why I don’t date white men
he says he likes curvy Latinas
that he’s always wanted to sleep with someone like me
he says that I’m the smart kind of “Mexican”
the kind that has a job and no kids
I probably have a temper
and an angry woman is sexy to him
White Man offers to buy me
tickets to my favorite rapper’s concert
says he can spoil a little brown girl like me
he’s already dreaming about it
how holy that would be
how saved I will become
White Man is already colonizing everything about me
teaching me he is God,
I don’t know better
It’s his job to show me
after all I am brown
brown things are meant to be walked on
like soil
and hands
and backs
I don’t say anything to White Man
I don’t know who he is
I am only a picture on a dating site
I am only a name on a direct message
A profile description that says I am Salvadoran
and only date men of color
meaning,
I can only love you
if you know what it is
to find breath in someone
that understands the suffocation
meaning, I can only love somebody
that doesn’t look like
what took everything
meaning,
I am only willing to love
my reflection
White Man thinks he is the exception
of course he does,
he is a white man
after all
Before You Go
