Author Information
What is Black
Black skin I’m born in
Nothing to do with choices
Black mind, intertwined
Choosing blind carcasses
Can I be black but not really look like that
Can I claim its history
yet reject the art of its genealogy
Can I be black but not dark
Like a scary midnight walk in the park
Can I speak black boldly through narrow lips
Can I bear future kings through slender hips
Can I wear the crown of glory and deny its coarse story
Can I be anything but black and still be that, Black
Can I love me, yet forever try to change me rearrange me
To look like those who maimed me,
defamed me, renamed me
Can I be black and not really like the look of my blackness
Can I pretend that I have not changed the face of what being black is
Supposed to be
Denying me.
Can I be free
Can I be black and not dwell where we shell
or shop where we sell
not speak like Ebonics town bells
ringing stereotypic spells
casting a shadow on my image
linking my lineage
to one tune one hip
one hop
one rap
one tap
can I be black if I don’t like that
what if I like classical muse
and opera, ballet shoes
can I be black like that
if not
what am I
who am I
what have I become
if I don’t send my children to our schools
in order to teach them new rules of life
would you give me strife
back stab me with your
sell out label knife
in my back
you say that I turned on us
for shame of us
well can I still be black
what is black
what does it mean
© Gail Clarke 2006
