Inspired by: Hooks, B. (1995). Killing rage: Ending racism. New York: An Owl Book.

A love poem
for bell
I am not the man who watches silently
as you scribble "killing rage" at the top
of a single, lined, yellow sheet of notebook paper.
I am not the man who closes his eyes
as he kisses the skin below your waist,
the same place his hands tend to rest
during slow dances in a dark room.
I am not the man who lies when he tells you,
I value your voice,
I value your body,
I value your rage.
I am not the man who avoids your stares
and refuses your loving engagement in the sheets,
waking up instead in a sweat, silently looking
out the bedroom window at children playing ball next door.
I am not the man who steals your feminine momentum,
the man who needs you to stab him softly,
who needs you to shoot him with the gun hidden in your purse,
the man who can't hear your tender whispers.
--David Alan Sapp