Black body burdened by broken promises and bitter fortune
We look in the mirror and see with closed eye
we think but don't speak and say what we don't mean
A black body is what stares back at us.
It's Been Taken
Stripped of every thing that once was
The beauty of it all
The rich pigment
The stereotypes that still have to fall.
We say things like "black is beautiful"
But we don't own it. This statement is more like an omen
Statements like these remind us that our blackness has been breached
Better yet bleached
Blotted out of history
Blank pages greet it
Sterilized and forgotten.
We welcome our black bodies with a love that is confession
We confess our strength
Our knowledge
Our tenacity
And our audacity to keep going
And keep standing and keep loving on this black body.
Coffee, chestnut, chocolate, onyx, cocoa, smoke
Black and brown skins mingled together in a melody of hymns
Until the song is sung freely.