TOO BLACK (excerpt)

I am TOO BLACK

To be a pacifist

after all this 

pain

You say I'm angry

I say I'm heavy

With my ancestors’ weight 

in graves

could come out 

in a million different ways

Some days

I am a vigilante

like every sheisty on the subway

ups the emotional ante

the white girls get antsy

but 

My sharp edges 

shape safety

barbed wire 

holds me faithfully

you think I built these walls

hastily?

you think I love myself

hatefully?

You say I’m ungrateful

ask me where my joy resides

Now, what makes you worth 

witnessing my joyful sides?

Why do you deserve

to see me and smile

as the world goes round

from the blood I cry?