miss-k-the-poet-blog

[miss-k-the-poet-blog]

I haven't enough room to both rage and weep I go to cry and each tear turns to steam

Donte Collins

[miss-k-the-poet-blog]

The white lady,

sees me walking in her direction

immediately, clutches the purse on her arm.

The white family,

locks the car doors as I load

my groceries into the trunk.

A white community,

Moves into uptown Minneapolis

One whole foods

Replaces an entire black community

Another video surfaces

I see it from the corner

of my eye and it looks

like it's my father's blood

draining into the concrete

My mother married a black man / knowing she may one day have to put back together the mosaic of his splintered black body / knowing she would have to hold a child darker than she / a child with her eyes but a wider nose / they will cry into her chest / over another acquittal / while they march and demand /

                to matter

[miss-k-the-poet-blog]

Sharks

My sexuality is a shark 

she rarely comes out in the open waters

so they hardly see her

they try not to think about the possibility of it 

lurking

they play in the water unknowingly 

when they find her there 

they scream 

and run clean out of the water 

-excerpt from the queer poem i cannot yet write

[miss-k-the-poet-blog]

Haiku

my thighs castle 

knocking 

LOUDLY 

does not 

permit entrance.

[miss-k-the-poet-blog]

To be Black in America

1 Let them touch your hair without asking, they may be invading your personal space, but what is yours can be anyone else’s for the taking.

2 Get used to being the “black friend” you are only there to justify how correct their politics are. Yes, they are using you but don’t get offended, when will you learn not everything is about race? 3 When you get put into a box with everyone else who has brown skin do not panic, control you claustrophobia, cradle it close to you call it comfort.  through these one-way mirrors, it is hard to see different shades of darkness you have to shine brighter or lighter than everyone else. 4 When the preacher tells your mother that she is too pure in her white snow to marry someone so dug up earth, do not take this as him saying you are something impure or that your skin is just something that could have been perfect but is now just muddied water (clouded water. Just try to understand him, he likes the mud separated he likes the mud settle below the water where is belongs) 5 Be more respectful than you have to be, anything defensive from you is quickly considered resistance, and you will be shuffled right back into the box be it metaphorical or metal or wooden 6 The first time you are called the n-word put you head down to get home as fast as you can do not let them see you cry, do not cry until you are in your Father’s strong dark arms. Giggle when he asks you if you want him to hurt the person that did it, laugh when you figure out he really did make them pay for it and creatively of course 7 be the pinnacle of their jokes smile along do not tell them they can not say the things that venture too close to home. You cannot call people out on their racism then you become the bad guy they will say, “Ever heard of reverse racism? the civil rights movement was over in like the 60’s right? no one is even like that anymore, you don’t always have to pull the race card.” when you hear this your mind will drift to last week when you were called by your wrong skin and not your real  name and you will not understand how they do not see this.

8 Learn to be a color. “You act so black” or “you act really white” become the color, hide behind it and make every stereotype attached to it. this will make you more palatable, it makes them more comfortable. wear the shade they put behind you as a name tag, it will probably be easier to pronounce anyways. let them call you box, or forgotten, or night, or corpse, or nothing, go by nothing, you are nothing but a color.

9 And all this has been repeated i hear the same voices just different generations singing the same hateful language in the same direction as was before. Like Malcolm X didn't die for my right to breathe unsegregated air, Like Dr. King,didn’t do it for everyone to love each other for what makes them real, and human, and beautiful, we are people under one roof we call it sky, parts of it are dark and that's ok.. 10 to be black in America takes the heartbeat of generations who died for our rights to breathe and be real and beautiful. it takes us, all of us, to remember we are all only human.