I AM A BLACK WOMAN by Mari Evans.

I am a black woman
music of my song
Some sweet arpeggio of tears
is written in minor key
And I
can be heard humming in the night
Can be heard
Humming
In the night
I saw my mate leap screaming to the sea
And i/with these hands/cupped the life-breath
From my issue I the canebrake
I lost Nat’s swinging body in the rain of tears
and heard my son scream all the way from Anzio
for Peace he never knew….I
learned Da Nang and Pork Chop Hill
in anguish
Now my nostrils know the gas
and these trigger tired/fingers
seek the softness in my warrior’s beard…

I am a black woman
tall as a cypress
strong
beyond all definition still
defying place
and time
and circumstance
assailed
impervious
indestructible
Look
on me and be
renewed…

Copyright 1970, reprinted by permission of the author.

Reference:
Mari Evans

Category: Celebration of Blackness,