A Poem by Kelly Thomas

 

 

 

VALIDATION

 

 

I wanted Ken to like me.

As girls, we would bring him and Barbie together

for sex, my white friends and I

banging their plastic flesh together.

 

I imagined us together, his rigid fingers

caressing my thick hips.

I lying beneath him,

taking his thrusts, taking her place.

 

I wanted Barbie to watch us,

cayenne searing her plastic veins

but her grin the same.

 

Afterwards, I wanted to rest my dark

curls in the crook of his shoulder. I wanted

to pull him close, his vacant

eyes meeting mine, kiss his stiff

nose and forgive him.

 

“What I Wanted” (former title) first appeared in Efroymson Anthology.

 

 

 

Kelly Thomas is an award-winning writer, editor, adjunct professor of English (Xavier University) and the founder of Kelly Grace LLC (www.kgrace.co), a copywriting and editing agency that teaches artists and entrepreneurs how to create content that informs and inspires. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Genesis, The Efroymson Anthology and Polly Magazine. Honors include first-place scholarships from both the Antioch Writers’ Workshop and Minnesota Northwoods Writers Conference as well as a post-graduate fellowship at WordPlay, a creative writing and after-school center.