I arrive late in my second-best dress.
\nMy want unraveling like a hem
\nin my hand. I want to be beautiful.
\nBut this is America, and I am not
\nspecial. Identity is a silk slip
\nonly I know I wear. I walk around
\nlike a nobody waiting to be undressed.
\nI want the whole room to know
\nmy secrets knotted like stars
\nunderneath. Can\u2019t you see?
\nI\u2019m too on the nose until I\u2019m not.
\nI\u2019ve stood here for five minutes looking
\nannoyed and still no one has said hi.
\nWhen I catch a boy\u2019s attention,
\nI\u2019m all face and no teeth.
\nMother says I want
\nlike an American but I disagree.
\nI bite my tongue. Nothing comes
\nnaturally. I compose my composure,
\nspit out some sad excuse
\nfor an introduction. Where I\u2019m from
\ndepends on where I am now:
\nthe answer always too long
\nto keep a man\u2019s attention.
\nAmericans are simple, not
\nhyphenated. I give in and pretend.
\nMy desire is a wire I wear
\nthrough my hair. I\u2019m high-strung
\nand forgettable. When I arrive,
\neverybody\u2019s occupied. I just want to
\nbe seen. I have a whole story
\nto tell for every white boy
\nto verify. I\u2019ve been that girl
\nwho can\u2019t resist declaratives:
\nwhen I tell them what I am,
\nI want an affirmative. I want
\ntheir resounding Yes, all their synonyms
\nfor saccharine. I want my taste
\nin their mouths and a list of every
\nnote. I\u2019m not picky. Here\u2019s a joke:
\nA girl walks into a party.
\nShe leaves as someone else.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I arrive late in my second-best dress. My want unraveling like a hem in my hand. I want to be beautiful. But this is America, and I am not special. Identity is a silk slip only I know I wear. I walk around like a nobody waiting to be undressed. I want the whole room […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2211,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[67],"tags":[25],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Jypy-4m2","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16742"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2211"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16742"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16743,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16742\/revisions\/16743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}