a book walked over to me today, asked me to sit down beside it, then it began to speak. it told of blue-eyed boys with kinky hair and blue-black skin who carved cranes out of tupelo. they watched girls with above the knee pink skirts walk by tossing sultry glances. it told of new mothers baking hard dough bread and too sweet coconut cupcakes. the book stopped to gauge my interest and asked if it should go on. i told it to let me read what was inside its belly, to learn what it hungered for.
© zaji, 2016