Black women are (a poem under construction - draft 1)

We cannot be defined or described in single line
Stanza, phrase, metaphor, theory, thought
Black women are
Complex poems under construction
Handwritten, rewritten
Workshopped
Memorized
Lines reconstructed and stretched
Cut short, repeated

That is our luster
How varied, many, much we are

Pointed finger, twisted neck
Mother wit, sharp tongue
Reserved, wrinkled fingers
Wise, sit up
Wait for the sun
Wonder what take him so long

We are humorous and magical
We abracadabra food on the table
With one hocus pocus
Like nobody's business

Blue eyes, brown hair
Green eyes with red
Purple, beige, tan
Chocolate of every hue

Tiger eyed
Tight fists, sore backs
Broken fingers, aching joints
We carry the world
Every day

Stripper heels
Nurse shoes
Cooks, queens
Baby, we been wherever you trying to go

We mouth
We lips
We hands on hips

Teachers
Bus drivers
Song singers
Prayer warriors
Story tellers

We will get through it
And carry you on our back
Along the way

There is no one way we look
Think
Speak
Be
Act

Black women are survivors
PTSD
Bipolar
Depressed
Schizophrenic
Anxious

We still get it done

Rape
Domestic violence
Child abuse
Discrimination

We have lived with it all

We are clear
Sane
Healthy

We do not fit into a box

Straight, gay
Locked, permed
Painters, poets
Politicians, preachers

We are double d's, barely b's
Ass and thighs
Calves and spines

Black women are Muslim, Jewish
Christian, scientist
Science of mind, Bahai

This poem could go on forever
We thin, thick
We dance, laugh
There ain't no way that is we aint

We conjurin' spells
Carvin' pathways
Burnin' and tearin' down bridges

We mustard seed faith on dreams
Supersize into reality
We forgive and keep movin'
Black women
Are the myriad fish in the ocean