Sunday, July 6, 2008

30 Poems in 30 Days - Day 6 Persona

This should get me up to date now. Day 5 and 6 are reversed, but didn't want to delete and repost, so am just moving on from here. A Persona is a poem written in another persons voice. You take on their personality and role and write a poem as if they were writing it themselves.
This is an actual event that happened at one of my open mics. This not a joke but a true event. The young man in the poem truly believes this. So full of hatred he can't see shades of gray. This young man had never attended my open mic, but didn't like the idea of black poets attending one hosted by a white woman, so decided to come and bring his hateful attitude to try to cause trouble. It didn't work, but he still carries all that hatred inside him.

Who's a racist?

As my black friends and I
walk into the poetry room
Three white women have
arrived ahead and are seated

they acknowledge us and we’re
invited to sit so we choose
the table next to them
and wait and watch. We dare

them to speak to us and one
smiles and says, “what’s this?”
three men at one table and
three women at the other?”

I sneer my reply, "yeah, racist.”
She looks taken aback and I
glare and dare her to contradict
but obviously I am right.

They didn’t bother to move to
sit with us when we sat down
so they are the racist whites
who hate us black men.

“Well,” she laughs, “I really
thought you were sexist.” She smiles
and I wonder at her stupidity that
she cannot see how racist she is

as she sits with her white women
friends. “You could have joined us,”
she says and again I cannot understand
her blatant racist remarks. We should

have sat down with them when they
are the white racists who deny us
the right to share the same table.
I do not move nor does she or her friends.

As others enter the room – black and white
They sit together as if they don’t
Understand how racist this person is
As she pretends to enjoy all the poetry

read and applauds and asks
questions and discusses race
issues as if she understood and
truly believed we all had a voice.

At the end I sneer at her and walk
out with the knowledge I have
let everyone know with my words
she is a racist and they will see

through her phony smiles and
hugs for everyone as if she
truly cared. I am right!
She is white so she is a racist.

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