My Kinda Woman by Bianca Spriggs
Tall drink of water,
she got a secret
sort of smile.
She got a good voice
and bowed, long legs.
A white father.
A black mother.
Claims Indian roots
somewhere back there,
she’s not sure where;
she keep ’em in a closet
full of hooded specters
right next to the boxes
of special occasion lingerie.
She smoke loose leaf,
but only when she drinks.
She drinks only if it’s strong
and only if it’s sweet.
She can curse and loves hard.
She used to wear Blue
but now it’s Red most of the time.
She got dreadlocks, a gingham shift,
and a Confederate flag for a belt buckle.
She call her boots ‘roach killers.’
A Bible rides around in her backseat.
If you’re lucky and she’s lonesome
waiting around for that no good man,
she might lift her shirt
and show you the scar he left
webbing up her ribs.
She drawls when she’s relaxed
and she always relaxed.
She can cook up a storm
when she’s happy.
She can smell rain.
Bony in places and hippy in others,
she blushes in Spring
and cackles in the Fall.
She a good old gal,
fine lines and all.
"My Kinda Woman" originally appeared in Appalachian Heritage and later included in Bianca’s collection Kaffir Lily, Wind Publications. Reprinted with permission of the author.
Bianca Spriggs, in partnership with the Kentucky Domestic Violence Association, is the creator of "The SwallowTale Project" a traveling creative writing workshop designed for incarcerated women, and the creator and Artistic Director of the Gypsy Poetry Slam featured annually at the Kentucky Women Writers Conference. Bianca is the author of Kaffir Lily (Wind Publications), How Swallowtails Become Dragons (Accents Publishing), and her work may also be found in the anthologies, New Growth: Recent Kentucky Writings, America! What's My Name? and the journals, Union Station Magazine, Tidal Basin Review, Muzzle, Caduceus, Alehouse, Reverie, Appalachian Heritage, and others. She is currently the Managing Editor for pluck! The Affrilachian Journal of Art and Culture.