Untitled: A Work in Progress

Yes.

I am black and pan(sexual) and I don’t believe in the Bible

Can you be Black and do this this?

Be Black and be this?

Things not associated with Blackness

Though it’s my Blackness

Don’t cancel out my Blackness

Because to you my Black isn’t “Black enough”

Freedom has a White cover

But Black fought for it

And when the Stonewall came

Crashing down

Black queens hands caught and put the debris in their mouths

And when Negro women used her Blackness to lead your

Grandfathers father, father through the Blackness

There she was in all her Blackness surrounded by the light of Freedom.

My Blackness is not invalidated by your Blackness

Black and Gay as Hell

Black and a believer of the Good Heart, Good Soul

Blackness has no restraints

But the silver slip of what Black should be

Makes us think so.

Blackness crumbled beneath the Constitution and yeoman farmers

When

Jefferson sold us out to make them money

Blackness prospered when Malcolm

Took it to the streets

And when

Martin laid with Coretta in the sheets

And shot ya’ll with that

“I had a dream”

Blackness prospored when Turner moved through the night

And took his masters head

And when Harriet pushed the railroad

Dug underground, smelled the freedom of the North

And fled.

And still !

Blackness crumbled when

Baby Emmett

Baby Till

Was hunted like prey, in the moonlight

In the gaze of salvation

And hung on the North pole to freeze

In the eyes of the Hungry.

And still !

We proposed when

Ferguson burned you down

And the parasites in your veins

“You’re defacing private property!”

But...you’re killing us.

And still

We proposed when Colin took that knee

And when Bree ripped through your “patriotism” with her teeth

And when Tekeyah put the rope around your necks (guess who helped pull the rope)

And when Beyonce got in Formation

In front of rejects who rejected Blackness.

We aren’t our ancestors

But damn sure don’t forget where we got it

See my Blackness is just the same as yours

Worn, beaten, bruised

Battered, torn, and used

Seen the same struggle

Crawled in the gutters

Been redlined

And card declined

Laid on my back

Whiplash can’t catch me

We to fast for that.

Now you see

We probably from the same plantation

Our grandma’s

Wade in the water

But now were troubling the waters

Wade in the water children

Skinheads want our fathers

Wade in the water

Tear down our daughters

God’s gonna trouble the water

We crumbled before the “martyrs”

But crumbled does not mean broken

Now malleable, molded

New and unfamiliar

We taste a little different

Look a little different

Sound a little different

Eclectic , Oh Mighty...

Savon Williams is a writer from Brooklyn, New York. Savon’s poetry is often derived from her own experiences as a woman of color or from mystical and ethereal fantasies that keep her awake at night. Savon’s favorite things to do in her free time include but are not limited to; Performing deep, gut-wrenching monologues in her room for no one in particular, talking with the moon (she’s a great listener), and watching Tik Toks. She is currently pursuing a B.A in Psychology with a concentration in Developmental Psych and Elementary School Teacher Certification from Lawrence University.

Click here for a note on Savon from her teacher, Alex Cuff.