Black History Month Tribute pt. 3

The final part of my expression of black history month. Part 1 is an expression of me when I was really young (roughly birth through middle school). Part 2 covers most of high school. Part 3 occurred gradually from my senior year of high school until present day. So in essence, this is the evolution of me.

III. Emancipated

As storms roll across the sky,
Raindrops pelt my branches
Lightning tickles my spine
And I melt away in the rolling drops—
I take flight above my tree-top
And the world disappears beneath me.
Their opinion burns as the lightning strikes
Red fire.  Gold flames.
     Orange and yellow dancing
     To the beat of a lioness’ roar

I have become her.

Nature’s answer to pain and pride—

Not quite enough to dispel the color

Not quite enough to completely free my eyes…

But I fly and I glide,

And I dance high, higher in the clouds.

The world doesn't exist anymore

               Just me: nature’s tears

And I’m free.

Black History Month Tribute pt. 2

II. Enlightened

But my roots run deep
Twisting and turning,
Entangled in the lost legacy…
She told me to rise
         Because I have the strength
She told me to go where I've never been
         Because I have the vision
She told me to sit when I’m at my limit
         Because I’m not invincible
She told me to take control, claim my own power
Because I am.

And we—

She and I,

               My mother

               Grandmother

               Aunt

               Sister

We grow strong

Into this old, proud tree.

The wind blows

And my leaves may drift away

But my branches never break

My trunk never bends.

I am defiant

I am tall.

I want the world to see

To stand in awe beneath my shade

Never to ask what manner of tree is this,

But to know us by our rightful name.

Black History Month Tribute pt. 1

Every year during Black History Month I reflect: on well-known people, the forgotten heroes, the unsung heroes. I reflect on my own experiences, the experiences pasted down from my elders, and I ask myself what does it mean to be Black?  How has it changed me? This year it's a three part tale...

I. Enslaved

I was born color-blind;

I came out of the womb that way…

This rainbow of color was forced upon my mind

Not an instant process, but slowly over time.

The girl in my class—

               The one I saw everyday

I don’t know what possessed her,

I don’t know what suddenly changed!

But she submerged my head in the sea of colors

Their brightness blinding my blinded eyes

And I drowned somewhere beneath its colored tide

Rolled and churned, swept out to sea

The weight of blackness entangled me.

nigger shackled my legs, my arms…

--It’s impossible to move.

And there in the distance,

Schools of fish simply staring at me…

They spit  the salt I’m forced to inhale

While I choke on false assumptions

There’s a fire in my lungs...

But I’m tangled and mangled,

Shackled and shamed

Sinking further and further beneath the wave.