More than words...
Poetry has been a large part of my identity and how I choose to express myself. I am very fortunate to have this gift and use it when I am no longer able to articulate myself in a normal way.
The following poem illustrates my inability to appease the Black and Hispanic and Latino coommunities in Kansas City. I was never enough of one to be accepted by either, but instead of crawling into a hole and hiding, I let their disapproval fuel my conviction, which caused this poem to come about.
“Heifer you ain’t no half-breed”
so many
have said to me
feeding my insecurity
revealing
my inadequacy
Hair too curly to be Black
skin too dark to be Puerto Rican
I’m think
And wantin to be leavin
Needin
a meetin
to discuss the reason
why my race is the topic
of your gossip
“Girl you ain’t Black enough!
You don’t talk Black
walk Black
or act Balck
Heifer you just look Black!”
What is Black?
Yo
Black is where it’s at
with cocked hats
fat stacks
the cold hard fact
that Black
is more than hip hop and rap
Black isn’t the latest slang
Black is knowin from where your people came
Black is proud
Black is loud
Black is here
Black is now
Unfortunately for Mocha colored me
Black is what I be
but no on sees
and claim
I raise
my fist in vain
my past staind
with the same racial disdain
my ancestors suffered the exact same pain
mounted it and put it in a picture frame
“But what that go to do with you being Puerto Rican?
¡Negrita!
¡No eres puertoriqueña!”
Esas palabras
Salen de muchas
bocas
y no hay ningúna persona
que me has dicho differente
pero yo sé
que
mi piel
cannot tell nadie
that I was feed meringue
that even in Puerto Rico
my people were enslaved
that’s why so many of us of different shades
run around with the same
last name
and you have the
audacity to tell me
that you’re more Puerto Rican than me
when I embody our forgotten history
or that you’re more Black than me
when you don’t achieve
your people’s dreams
My veins
run full of slaves
and ex-slaves
saved
and unsaved
at one point temporarily insane
in the home of the brave
because freedom still hasn’t rang
we are still slaves
to racist ways
we need to be freed
and save
from each other
skin is something for which there should be no color
black brown or white skin
gives no hint to their story within
© Andréa Agosto 2006
