VIII.

This white man I sleep with I love.

This white man who loved my Black hair before I did I love.

This white man to whom I gave Sawyer and Avery I love.

This white man without whom I would not have Sawyer and Avery I love.

I love how he worked part-time his entire career so as to be the primary parent of our children. How he looks with such pride upon Sawyer and Avery. How he develops his consciousness about the Black experience by reading, listening, watching, informing himself so he can be the best possible white father to our Black son. How he loves his daughter just as magnificently as my Daddy loved me.

How he loved me when I did not yet love myself.

And gazes at me with limitless love still.