The Response - More than Still Black

To question oneself is to reflect on one’s existence. It is through this reflection that we open ourselves to the biggest mysteries of who we are and why we exist. I question my blackness just as Miller contemplates his race koans…

What does it mean to be black?

Shadows creep across my window,

stuck in the background

they seek shelter from the rain

that pours buckets of blackness

in my lap.

“My dream is your dream, and your dream is what Stevie sees!”

That darkness in the midst of hope,

That darkness standing outside of sin

That blackness that simmers within us all.

Stevie sees the blank clutter

of shifts, stages, movement, progression,

and questions of what it means to be black.

When I wake up I feel like Garvey with his hat,

When I step out of bed I feel like that black fist,

When I put on my clothes I feel like the bruise it creates, and

When I look in the mirror I feel like I missed the starting line.

Is this what it feels like to be me? Or

Is this what it feels like to be black?

Is this what it means to be captioned? Or

Is this what it means to be black?

What it means to be black.

What it means to be black.

What it means to be.

It means to be open

It means to be proud

It means to be beaten

It means to be strong

It means to be beautiful

It means to be full

It means to be.