my Blackness
is not for sale.
cheap recreations
make everyone think they understand
my
Blackness.
my Blackness is ever present,
a shield i wear,
a flag i don high in the sky,
for all to witness.
my Blackness
scares Them.
it makes Them afraid of
who i could be
and want to be.
my Blackness
is seen as a threat,
to Those who take
without giving,
police without protecting,
the jurors
whose words
could end
my life.
my Blackness
is my loving and weary
partner that
i must nourish
for a world that
isn’t kind to Her.