Unshackled

Ryene Fenner

As long as hands are in the air

they know retaliation is lifeless,

like the lack of melanin in their skin.

In the brightest hues of honey to the darkest tones of cocoa

lies a power to be feared.

Melanin is not a veil prescribed by the colorless;

it is a cloak of armor enameled with gold by God.

The fabric of our beings has been

woven together by strength and persistence

that have been threaded through the veins of royalty.

We were not bound by the ankles

to become warp and weft into

news stories of the slain and broken.