my friend and i come from two different backgrounds, but we’re always matching with the same almond tinted skin – she’s a bit warmer though, just like her personality. my affinity for warmth drew me to her during our first encounter as her soft spoken speech traced the contour of her being. since then, we’ve carved out and shared carved out experiences with each other. she once told me that i’m easy to talk to and i was flattered. i thought to tell her that she’s hard to talk to but in a positive manner. it’s this phenomenon i call the overawe: it occurs when a creation of beauty exudes this unnerving aura that’s only sensed by a creature of lesser magnificence. like a cat before a lioness. or more aptly, a mere man befriending an angel; nonetheless, it was something i had to suppress.
i don’t wear masks,
at least not on my face;
maybe with my words
and the things that i say.
ample time has passed and allowed the feeling to metamorphose into something different. now she’s kitten. she’s angel wrapped in melanin saturated flesh-made linen. and just like a fairy tale, she’s… just my friend.
Header photograph © Jason D. Ramsey.
Ikem “Na-Chi” Ukeka is a Physical Therapy doctoral candidate at Midwestern University. He dabbles in different forms of poetry, from hip-hop to spoken word. His poem “when pillows talk” was recently published in Fathom. He is also the author of the chapbook, “y. Solo” (LuLu Press, 2017), which is available as a hardcopy and digitally via major e-book distributors. You can follow him on Twitter @Ikem_NaChi and see more of his work on his website http://ikem-nachi.tumblr.com
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