I wish I could break

All the chains holding me  

—Nina Simone

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today 

i am a black woman in america

& i am singing a melody ridden lullaby

it sounds like the gentrification of a brooklyn stoop

the bodega and laundromat burned down on the corner

the people on the corner

each lock & key their chromosomes

a note of ash & inquiry on their tongue

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today 

i am a black woman in a hopeless state

i will apply for financial aid and food stamps

with the same mouth i spit poems from

i will ask the angels of a creative god to lessen the storm

& i will beg for forgiveness if ever i curse

the rising dawn

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today 

i am a black woman in a body of coal

i am combustible and no one cares to know my name

i am a nameless fury, i am a blues scratched from

the throat of ms. Nina—i am always angry 

i am always a bumble hive of hello

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today 

i am a cold country, a certain storm,

a heat swell & audacity of being woman 

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today 

i am a woman, a brown and black &

brew woman dreaming of a freedom

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today

i am a mother, and my country is burning

& i forget how to flee from such a flamboyant

backdraft 

—i’m too in awe of how ravishing i look 

            ablaze

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