A poem a day for 2015 - day 26 - Hands

Once upon a January Friday night in 2015
In the land of New York
Four queens were shot and three died

Jonathan Walker, thirty four years old
Thought his girlfriend and common law wife, Shantai Hale (names matter) was cheating
He thought
He thought
Thought
But this is not about his thoughts
This is not about whether or not she was cheating

This is about a black woman's life
And her mother's life, Viola Warren (names)
And Jonathan's and Shantai's daughter's lives
Kayla, seven and Christina, the only one to survive, twelve
Because he didn't want his children in foster care

(Horrible things happen to children in foster care you know)

He didn't want
He didn't
He
Because I guess this is about him now
He shot himself
And this is about black women's lives more than a man's thoughts
This is not about what she did or did not do
Not about with whom

Are we ready for this conversation
Are we ready
Are black women ready to revolt against black men
While we are on the front lines fighting for us and them at the same time
Are we ready
Are you

Black women are busy
We are too busy and tired
Of looking over shoulders by day fighting off white men and women too
And slaying boogie men out our baby's closets by night
And being thin and pretty enough
And smart but not too smart
And satisfying sexual and emotional needs of our men
We are tired
And too busy being killed and coming up missing

Are we ready brothers and sisters
To talk