Another day at the office...

I want you to know
That I hear it
Behind the calculated smiles
When you decide at first sight
What this face is worth
And I see it
When you glance from
Long extensive resume to
Brown face in disbelief
Because my achievements don’t fit neatly
Into the little box you prepared to put me in

I feel it inside that stunned silence
In boardroom conversation
When the unexpected woman voice
Springs forth from black mouth
Speaks clear and coherent
But even though my lips are moving
You can’t seem to hear me
I have pieced together thought and logic
But you can’t bring yourself to understand it
Because I’ve denied you
The usual defenses
You will not use my so called “africanness”
To dangle success from my reach

But beneath freshly pressed pencil skirts
And crisp white collars
I carry her in my spirit even now.
That girl,
Before the
Stand up straights,
Don’t talk with your mouth full,
And color within the lines.
I am still that barefoot brown girl
Running wild on dusty roads
Carrying the dreams of an entire race