The Black Woman

The Black Woman has been undesirable yet desired

Everyone wants big lips, full hips but not the skin that it comes with

When a black woman wants her hair cornrowed

She looks to her ancestors to rise up from slavery

With songs in their hearts

And tightly braid with withered hands

The painful pull of years of struggle into her scalp.

A white woman wants boxer braids

So she looks to Kim Kardashian's instagram

Where she learns how to properly appropriate culture

How to take something that isn't hers

And yes I’m angry,

We are referred to as the angry Black Woman but,

James Baldwin says “To be a negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in rage almost all the time.”

The Black Woman is seen as unworthy.

Stretching my stretch marks longer

Like a tiger

But I know that's strange because we learn from a young age to

Be afraid of tigers and being too black.

Because the White Man thinks he can open us like books

Even though the only word printed over and over and over is no

But the White Man doesn't seem to care

Hovering over us like a roof

But by the time I get to the age of 20

I might be buried 20 feet under

Under the feet of the White Man

My hair growing roots of cotton fields

Ideas nourishing seeds

My skin growing thicker

I take my wings and fly

My head held high

Because I am a Black Woman

And I’m proud

Because with each curve I will conquer the world

Because the melodies that I sing aren't

Enough to stop a bullet

But the notes we shout are enough to stop hate

Because sitting at the end of the block

Screaming J Cole

The only role model most kids had was Kendrick

Or playing basketball at the corner park is enough for the park to close at 9

Because the basketballs are too dangerous to be out later than 9

Falling asleep to the ambulance and police sirens

Milly rocking to gunshots

Seeing crack heads being crack heads

Asking for crack money at CVS

Because it’s hard enough

Knowing that crack was given to us

The Reagan Administration

Just saying no

Grown men playing dice.

Stopping and being frisked for drugs

Daydreaming of a better life is a regular thing

Because living with 3 bullet holes in my house is hard to explain

And having a security door is understandable

Countless fights at school

Bloody noses and bloody hallways

Sneakerheads who can’t afford shoes

Because we don't have lakes to look out at

Skipping rocks over boiled blood

Unless you can count the community pool

Because a black neighborhood isn't a bad neighborhood

And a black woman isn’t a bad woman