Humanity Has No Tan Poem by Anganile Mwenifumbo

Pinch your skin
Do you feel the sting?
Is it any different?
You can't be ambivalent

Stand in the gutter
Do you smell the stench?
Does it make breathing tougher?
It can't be strange

Put chillies on your tongue
Do you taste the bite?
Does it ruin your palate?
Taste-buds never lie

You gaze at the sky every week
Do you see the future?
Can you tell if it's bleak?
Or bright like the rainbow picture?

Your skin-hue might be poles apart
And your noses might take a different arc
But any pinch generates a rupturing hurt
And stench is pungent no matter what

Pink, there is no yellow tongue
Red, there is no black blood
Tears will never have a white glow
And pain goes beyond every skin pore

Acquired tastes might make you frown
And songs will differ with each tone
But bitter is one
And humanity has no tan