Brown Sugar

I first saw your sensitive glasses
and beautiful bald head
when I watched Brown Sugar
a film about
hip-hop and love
When you spoke of the Beastie Boys
I knew you cared nothing for Paul Revere
But only for my burgeoning
heart, full of you

No sleep, til us.

Not America’s Top Model

Someone asked me
if Taye Diggs was in this reality show
about crazy half-children
trying to be famous.
And I said, “No. His eyes shatter television screens. with crystal purity.”

And I continued,
“Not all beautiful black men
with poetry hearts and falcon wings
look the same.”

But it turned out it was you
and I realized,
that you know best

Rent

Taye, when I tell people
I love you,
I don’t mean metaphorically.
I mean, I love you like I love
my wife. I want to run my callused hands along your smooth skin
whisper into your ear
my hot springs breath steaming your vacation-home beauty

It’s not gay
when it’s you.

We’re all Taye-Sexual
when our skin is flayed
and our souls burst with song shrapnel

The Best Man

I am already married
my brother was my best man
but I watched your movie
and you were a writer
with sensitive glasses
(which I get)
and I’d drape you in white satin
and appoint you best man also
The costume changes
would be worth it
because you are my soul

Scott Leo

I don’t care that Taye is not your real name
I still want you elbow-deep inside me.
Because your sleeves in the film Go were gold
and your teeth are an orchard of sunflowers
an ocean of fractured, molten glass
a dubloon-filled dungeon
In my sparrow heart, you are Taye
Not Scott Leo
and I love you.

Part of a series, Champion of My Heart explores the importance of pop culture in our lives. We consume an inordinate amount of pop culture and it is important to us: why isn’t poetry written about it?

Michael B. Tager is a writer. Find more of his work at his website, www.michaelbtager.com.