Thirteen by Tonya Ingram Lyrics
13, or, How OkCupid Told My Mother I Had the Devil Living Inside of Me
The first
said, you must be a man as much as you want it
then offered a glass of water
which is to say, have I not baptized you enough?
The second
will know nothing of your face
but of how low your head can bow
how open your mouth can crucify
The third
is Lazarus
speaks only of what he can see
there is no God in that
The fourth
an accent
eyes the shade of Eden
need I remind you how
that chapter ends?
The fifth
a blonde-haired
whiskey
hands like goliath
will toss you
because
he does not believe in your Christ,
but you are still pretty
for a black girl
The sixth
a dancer
will know
he is the age of
Jesus
At the cross
But will still
Make a resurrection
Out of you
The seventh
Will kiss you
Only after
He's allowed his
Righteous
Work to rest
On your face
And your chest
The eighth
Is the driest valley
Of lonely
Your bones has ever
Laid with
The ninth
A Lower-east side
Bar shot
The reason
You do not call home
What has no welcome mat
The tenth
Will ask if you are clean
The eleventh
Will try to unlearn your scripture
Leg by leg
Lip by lip
The twelfth
Is a rooftop
In Brooklyn
Is a bypassing thunderstorm
In Brooklyn
Is a hand-job in Brooklyn
The thirteenth
Is a rusty fence boy
Is a trap door
Is the one who will tell you,
You do not love yourself
13 is the number of men
you've allowed to wound your human
with their horns
It is fornication disguised as forgiveness
which means you swallowed 13 men in two months
when you mistook night for lonely
but it is all blasphemy
it is all reason to forget
your mother gave birth to you under sun and sin
so your throat is just a canal
just an ark
your skin so night
so animal
it is a lust fist
it is the daughter of Delilah you are
and have always been
13 is one more disciple
you've allowed to holy bible spread you
none of them black
they will want to read you
and convince their bodies
it walks on water
but it is all blasphemy
It is one more who has ransacked
your gospel before reading it
Making you another
this is the first time
I've slept with a black girl
miracle.
The first
said, you must be a man as much as you want it
then offered a glass of water
which is to say, have I not baptized you enough?
The second
will know nothing of your face
but of how low your head can bow
how open your mouth can crucify
The third
is Lazarus
speaks only of what he can see
there is no God in that
The fourth
an accent
eyes the shade of Eden
need I remind you how
that chapter ends?
The fifth
a blonde-haired
whiskey
hands like goliath
will toss you
because
he does not believe in your Christ,
but you are still pretty
for a black girl
The sixth
a dancer
will know
he is the age of
Jesus
At the cross
But will still
Make a resurrection
Out of you
The seventh
Will kiss you
Only after
He's allowed his
Righteous
Work to rest
On your face
And your chest
The eighth
Is the driest valley
Of lonely
Your bones has ever
Laid with
The ninth
A Lower-east side
Bar shot
The reason
You do not call home
What has no welcome mat
The tenth
Will ask if you are clean
The eleventh
Will try to unlearn your scripture
Leg by leg
Lip by lip
The twelfth
Is a rooftop
In Brooklyn
Is a bypassing thunderstorm
In Brooklyn
Is a hand-job in Brooklyn
The thirteenth
Is a rusty fence boy
Is a trap door
Is the one who will tell you,
You do not love yourself
13 is the number of men
you've allowed to wound your human
with their horns
It is fornication disguised as forgiveness
which means you swallowed 13 men in two months
when you mistook night for lonely
but it is all blasphemy
it is all reason to forget
your mother gave birth to you under sun and sin
so your throat is just a canal
just an ark
your skin so night
so animal
it is a lust fist
it is the daughter of Delilah you are
and have always been
13 is one more disciple
you've allowed to holy bible spread you
none of them black
they will want to read you
and convince their bodies
it walks on water
but it is all blasphemy
It is one more who has ransacked
your gospel before reading it
Making you another
this is the first time
I've slept with a black girl
miracle.