"Imperfect Perfection: Josephine Baker"

Erika Dickerson

Exotic beauty.
Sensually parades around in nothingness.
Banana splits don't splice
her bellows
but she'll be critiqued on her physique
and not her fortitude.

Iconic eye candy,
lollipops helix across the Follies-Bergere.
Gaping mics feign'in for one breath from
Black Venus.

She journeys Jupiter and counts its moons
Mandates Mars and orders the sun to
revolve around her

But red and white stripes didn't accept
black stars so she
Crossed the black Atlantic.
France was frantic
To witness the antics of the
Creole Goddess.

Flaunting feathers that
never covered her wings 'cause
her arms were too akimbo
But her voice was overruled because

her lips suckled seduction
Her hips were too curvaceous
sent frustration through the tenacious
1,500 men screeching
"Will you marry me, will you marry me?!"
'cause she was the

exotic beauty.
sensually parading around in nothingness
Banana splits don't splice
her bellows-

She sang a song of colors
and called it "the rainbow tribe"
Mixing tangled roots with
slanted eyes.
But no success could surpass
what's inbetween her thighs

A silenced songstress excessively combed by
repetitive sexual consciousness,
rubberbanned in race.

Vivacious vocalist, but
vaginas can't voice opinions
So she'll be critiqued on her physique
and not
her fortitude.