Grace Does Her Own Shucking

(Afrofuture 5: Grace Jones)

“If you want me, this is me. there are other me’s I’ve not even thought of. But I’ll get to them.”

i know we’ve only just met, 
but when you said i’m allowed 
to change my mind, as if it were nothing,
because it was (is), i knew
that you didn’t see the future
measured in kims or ambers, but in angles: 
you into a be like be like be like chorus me.

i know we’ve only just met,
but i know i like you because you do
what you want, for the dare
and you don’t give a shit
if you’re “too tough” or if
they confuse you for a man. 
role-switch, crush on tina turner’s

hips. laugh when they say, well, to be honest, 
selling a black model in paris is like trying to sell 
an old car nobody wants to buy. laugh
when they shield their eyes 
from you freed nipples in disney.
laugh because you can’t tell
if you’re tripping or not.

as much as i was muse, they muse
you said with a range two and a half
octaves. so they could hear you, really hear
you when they put you in a cage.
the meaning (of course) wasn’t captive,
but when they call you wild
you answer to your name.