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Callaloo 26.2 (2003) 416



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Lipstick

Cheryl Boyce Taylor


In Dakar I watch a girl
of eleven or so
sift pebbles from rice
her pile of pebbles grows
larger than the rice
piled at her feet

she peels oranges
hangs the peel to dry on vines
to use for stomach aches

give me lipstick
lipstick for Mama
she pleads
in the way she would ask
for more rice

lipstick please
her eyelids a small jeweled necklace
glows in noonday light

what's it like
to give your daughter to the world
her face ripped in two



 

Cheryl Boyce Taylor, who holds a master's degree in social work, is the author of two collections of poetry, Raw Air and Night When Moon Follows. This Trinidad native spent her childhood in New York City.

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