By: Jennica Mendoza

A face never seen on beauty’s front page,
Yet it still exists
A body that fails to catch the lustful eyes of men,
Yet it still dances gracefully
A shade of beauty unseen and even demonized,
Yet it still radiates
A voice silenced by competing narratives
Divided by polarization and enmity,
Yet still kept alive somewhere
Another song not heard, 
Yet it still sings its harmony
A story
A whole other side of world history
Stripped of its own essence
Yet it still exists

A face, body, shade, voice, song
A beauty, ballerina, model, writer, singer
She is another woman 

Who knows why the caged bird still sings
Who refused to give up her seat on a bus 
Whose complexion radiates a darker beauty
Whose children have walked up steps
In a stair not made of crystals

She is beauty
She dances, shines, writes, sings
She is phenomenal
Irrespective of the white gaze

She, too, is America