Poetry And Prose

Black Girl

Ashanti’s hair is coarse,
Her beauty is Egyptian.
Her dance is Africa. She is
God’s angelic inscription.

I have never spoken with Ashanti.
She has the soul of a Panther.
I have the skin of a mulatto.
I desire Ashanti without answers.

Ashanti is a black goddess.
She is Africa’s hope—
A black man’s pride:
The reason we fight to cope.

Ashanti empowers the black man.
Ashanti is the soul of Africa.
To be in Ashanti’s presence, is to
Be in the essence of Africa.

I love Ashanti as I love Africa.
She is the history of the black man.
Ashanti is the soul of pre-slavery.
Ashanti is the sun upon the sand.

I want desperately to hold Ashanti.
I want desperately to hold Africa.
I am mulatto. Ashanti does
Not desire mulatto. Ashanti desires Africa.

I have given myself over to America—
Desiring Africa. America is where
I stand. America has erased me.
Ashanti, my Africa, is my last prayer.

I need Ashanti. I need the love of
Africa. I need to feel my root. I am
So lost in America. I am so lost
Without Africa. I need the help of I Am.

Ashanti is my Africa. She is the
Heartbeat of my Africa. I need Ashanti
As I need Africa. Ashanti is a black
Goddess. Ashanti is the soul of Africa.


African American

Untangle my thoughts.
I need Africa.
I must ward off America.
America has changed me.

My people have been scattered.
My people have been stolen.
Our minds have been diluted.
We must parry the menticide.

I am the sun of Africa.
My roots run deep beneath
The ocean. My soul is the Land
Of Cush. My mind is Egypt.

Untangle my thoughts.
I need Africa.
I must ward off America.
America has changed me.

But I cannot abandon America.
America is my pigmentation.
Africa is my Mother Earth.
I must blend America, with Africa.

I am a synthesis.
I am mulatto: I am America;
I am Africa: I am the best of
Both worlds. I must be whole.

I cannot untangle my thoughts.
I cannot ward off America.
I need Africa. I also need
America. I am a synthesis.

Africa breathes through me.
I am the breath of Africa.
America breathes through me.
I am the breath of America.

I must repair my thoughts.
I must love myself.
I must love to feel free.
I am Africa. I am America.