(for black girls turned women who now work in ivory towers
but once got down with Gil)
my mind
is fried
my tears
have dried
my black
power fist
is on the
in side
my fist is on the
in
side
i’m in
side
time in
side / time in
side / time in
side
is time away from you
black girl dreams shuffle down the hall way behind me,
tuck them selves beneath my office chair
i do not see you here
i am
in/side
my fist is on the
in/side
time
away from you moves slowly
time moves
slowly out the door and
down the hall
I thought I heard you
in the bathroom
thought I saw you
on my lunch break
but it was just a shadow of an afro
time out
time in
side moves slowly
without you
i doubt you knew that you would miss me
i tell them that i like my coffee black
like you but
there is no one here to understand my poetry
the metaphors get lost in translation
time moves me away from you so slowly
at 5 pm i heard the school bell call
announcing bright desegregated tomorrows
new space in an old place
but just enough for one
at 5 pm i heard you
shuffling down the hall
your black girl dreams tucked safely in your pocket
in your glistening steel glass tower on the other side of town
at 5 pm i heard the time card punch
and wrote in “we have lost the war but won the battle”
hoping you would get the message
but how to get it to you?
my birds have lost their wings
all my bottles full with medicine to soothe my brand new ulcer
there is an ocean in between us
salty with the tears of hand clap games
and inside jokes
and too fresh hairstyles we have tossed aside
in search of better things
there are no afros here
no fists
no pride
just white washed walls
and smiles that grow dimmer every day
if you were here your smile would be my sunshine
