Black Movie by Danez Smith

Author:Danez Smith
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-943735-09-9
Publisher: SCB Distributors
Published: 2017-11-23T05:00:00+00:00

eventually, all black people die.

I believe when a person dies

the black lives on.

viii. not an elegy for…

this one

nor this one

nor this one

nor this one

nor this one

nor this one

not this one

nor the next one

nor the one after that

not this one

or this one either

no more elegies

bring the fire

POLITICS OF ELEGY

another brown man is dead

& now he’s my ancestor.

I was older than him before

but now he’s endless. what

do your people do

with their ghosts? if I write

the name of this new not here

is that the line? what if I write it

with quill & wound? I’ve trapped

so many boys in poems.

My mouth is an unmarked grave

above which flowers bloom

to sing the dead

or it is just my mouth.

I write about black boys

dying & this woman said

she enjoys my work — what?

failed resurrection? burial?

unsolicited eulogy?

sometimes the boy dying

is me so maybe she means

I’m putting on a good show

so far.

I won’t pin that on her.

I’m the one troubling the water

& calling it mother tears. a flood

is not what it is, but when they —

the loud dead — come for me

I offer them my hands, my pitiful

tongue. that could be a lie. I could be

playing in the corner with my invisible

friends. I say their names & nothing

happens or: I say their names

& a fire starts everywhere or: I say

their names & their names sprout

wings. raise your hands if you think

I’m a messenger. now this time

if you think I’m a tomb raider.

look around. there are no wrong answers.

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