Black Like

Black like my brown skin poppin with

melanin

Brown like the black you use to paint

My skeleton

Taking my culture

Preparing to leave me just a

Shell again

Hoping to the nail the coffin

You chose to bury me in

Mimicking the softest of my skin—

The plumpness of my lips—

The roundness of my hips—

Cloning my beauty

But rejecting my intelligence—

Hoping that booty

You bought

Would make me disappear

So you could take my place

Like I was never here—

Queens don’t die we multiply

The more you try the more I

Rise high-yer

Because my blackness

Will never expir-yer

Can’t ever be bought

It’s paid for

By the blood

That my ancestors

Faught—

The constant battle that you would never

Know

Is me,

My black beauty you love to imitate

But can’t replicate

Isn’t free—

Though you change your appearance

You can never be me

Sis-ta my whole being is a

Dope

Ass

Beat.

—Lulu Belle