“Non-African”
I’m not pretty, but I’m proud
I’m not pretty —
not in the way the world expects.
But I carry a face
that doesn’t lie.
It’s non-African,
and I say that without shame,
without bending my voice
to fit someone else’s frame.
No swollen features,
no wild metaphors.
No jungle in my gaze.
No rhythm in my skin.
I am sharp,
angled,
drawn from a different root.
From stone.
From wind.
From mountain ancestry
that doesn’t shout —
just stands.
Let them call it plain.
Let them call it cold.
I don’t want pretty.
I want truth.
And this is mine.
Non-African.
And proud.