Hey All —
This is a serious draft. More to structure and polish come later.
dublin, 7/11/15
the small cracks are empty
the ceilings are not blankets
of survival. we do not exist
the same as in the country side.
the city of dublin does not
boast the existence of others:
those attempting to survive,
the way of moss
and the disenfranchised.
Marish did not want to
mention the way it is.
He had accepted the
survival and decided
not to complain. when
the irishman rolled up
to his window and
shouted to go back to
his country, we were
all mocked. we were
all aware.
Mr. Hopkins told us
about the beauty of
dublin. How all its
monuments were
perfect for a day
of tourist adventure;
how all the jobs for
the immigrants were
taken from the irish.
how the irish didn’t
need to be taken
for their wealth
how we were all
suffering.
I blacked out
as I always do, when white
men try to dominate me,
the way they have always done.
I looked at this one and repossessed
what had always been mine.
I continued on my way,
into the arms of a Nigerian,
who like his country men
before him, professed love
too quickly to not hint
of transaction and opportunity;
outside the Temple Bar,
the bouncer said I talked
too much, and again I walked
past – waving my hand and
accepting a good time.
Kevin had an easy smile
and a light laugh. The flash
in his eyes when I mentioned
melanin made us all smile.
Olumandar’s tongue was
heavy with home when
it danced that we
are all human, we
all deserve to live.
there are certain ways
I have learned to survive;
the bending and swaying to
ills. The awkward parts of nothing
that turns into something, reflective
of a bigger thing, the names of it
which weigh down the poem
and our lives.
by the end of it
I had ignored it.
Dismissed more than
I care to – on a usual night
had already admitted defeat;
had gotten off the plane
knowing there is no place
where my melanin is free;
there is no place, no corner
where I can exist, in peace.
I will have to survive
like the moss hugging
the high and quiet places
as a means, to survive.