Mr. Africa Poetry Lounge!
just as the del vikings stole my heart
my fairy godmother retired
with the brown vs. ferguson decision
she reasoned i waz divested of my separate
but equal status & waz entitled
to whatever lil white girls got
from whoever they got it from
since she waz raised in greener pastures
& knew the devil only in the blues saw-dust
of a raunchy dawn/ a cruel dance on the edge of a dime
so she retired/
she waznt bout to miscegenate her powers/
integrate em either/
leavin me to fend for myself
i've felt her absence from the moment she escaped
with my love of who i am/ conjurin myself
thru catcalls & mailbox cherry bombs was not my forte
i learned only by breakin the law/
i am separate
i am equal
i live my own lil rock/
cover my own back anywhere i wanna go
& i go anywhere i want
crackers are born with the right to be alive
i am making mine up
right here in your face
why dont you
go on
& push me
Written by Ntozake Shange (1914-2018)
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