I learned them on the page first. Fell
apart and assembled notions of suicide,
held brilliant pain, Beloved, in the hands
of a mother saving her baby from slavery.
Felt the throb of each purple bruise
on Miss Celie’s back blister and turn blue.
Heard the silence that consumes a man, proving
Black Boys are invisible—still. Knew caged birds
would sing their way to freedom as long as their eyes
stayed on Him. Prayed Pecola would discover the beauty
that stretches beyond her skin. Learned compassion
is the greatest lesson before dying, and all that lies within.
And yet we still omit stories, black-out pages, broken
fragments in a forgotten land. We should cement
these words in history, not conceal truths and label
them banned. What I know is there are still
children who haven’t heard Maya’s name. Haven’t viewed
God through the eyes of Zora, haven’t heard her bitter
twisted refrain. Haven’t wailed on the mount with Baldwin,
or spoke of divergent dreams with Lorraine. Haven’t read
the history of immortal generations, or discovered
inexplicable truths with Wright, unlocked freedom
with Alexander, or saw Claude turn ghettos to promised
lands at night. Some children still don’t know the fire
passion of Malcolm, the beauty of Native Son.
They will never know where they’re headed
until they see all the immaculate places
they’ve come from.
Khalisa Rae is an award-winning poet, activist, and journalist based in Durham, NC. She is a 4-time Best of the Net nominee, Pushcart Prize nominee, and the author of the debut collection Ghost in a Black Girl’s Throat from Red Hen Press 2021. Her articles appear in Vogue, Autostraddle, Catapult, LitHub, Bitch Media, NBC-BLK, and others. Her powerful poetry appears in Electric Lit, Pinch, Tishman Review, Frontier Poetry, Rust & Moth, PANK, HOBART, among countless others. Currently, she serves as Asst. Editor of Glass Poetry, co-founder of Think in Ink and the Women of Color Speak reading series. Her second collection, Unlearning Eden is forthcoming from White Stag Publishing in 2022. Follow her at khalisa.com @khalisaraeandco @khalisa_rae.
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