"About My Blackness" by Monica WP

*A poem about the stigmatization of those of African descent living in America, descended from those enslaved, who cannot trace their roots to their original country, and who receive the abusive attitudes of anti-Blackness from others, especially towards those wearing deeper and richer skin*

They think that our Blackness is a dark hole
Where things go to disappear and be ravaged
To never see the light again

But when I am gone, make sure that you force them
To admit
That my Blackness was the deep well
From which they took
Every
Good
Thing

That filled them
That defended them
That covered them and the Earth
In a love so pure that there was never any absence of light
In My Blackness

For in My Blackness
Are great and marvelous magics
Healing, soothing, and redemptive oils
That would you not know any better
You would dry up
And crack
Not knowing why you had so much pain in your body

Because you thought My Blackness could not offer anything of value to you
When it could have been a salve for the wounds
Where I could see my medicine was needed

Make them choke on the words if you have to
But make sure they come out
Make them say
That Blackness is good for them.