Your energy rugged
Complexion onyx
Defying stereotype
Your beauty iconic
I have a white father
I thought my full lips were ugly
I thought my nose too wide
Internalizing painful bigotry
Black men bear a cross
Rejected or fetishized
Treated as exotic
Castigated or criminalized
I strive to break my pattern
To overcome conditioning
Rejecting stigma
Expanding my boundaries
Black god of war
Fierce Onyx Ares
Uprooting toxic prejudice
Reclaiming noble ancestry
Your spirit moves me
This army of liberation
Undermining domination
Imagining collective salvation
Our war has many fronts
Enemies without and within
Like a god you inspire me
Celebrating the beauty of black skin
leather: @armyofmenco, photos: @rafandway1, model: @joelinhou on IG
–BYPO PHOENIX c)2025
