ode to D’Angelo

album art from Voodoo, released January 25th, 2000.

Your voice is a fabric that slid over my skin with a brilliant permanence.

I wore your frequency alongside denim and white cotton dresses

I lived my life in it

I wore it

with nothing else

but my most beloved’s scent

And despite the gentleness of your embrace, I was branded

       scorched in such a way

that only those who dared to love as fearlessly as we imagined you did, would recognize me.