The Hour Black is Beautiful
when we
when we can see
when we can see Black presidents
in the Whitehouse that’ll be the day
that’ll be the day my father lives at home
with his wife and his child
until his death will do him part
that’ll be the day I finally find
buying weed and drank is
harder than buying me a book
a book of poems a book of short stories
a book for school
when we can see Black presidents
in the Whitehouse that’ll be the day
where I sit in the dining room
smelling something going on in the kitchen
and I finally know what’s cooking,
it’s my Grandma baking and I can finally ask
what’s that baking Grandma, pecan?
pecan sweet pecan pie
some that there pecan pie
that there your grandson-only sweet pecan pie
that’ll be the day where in Any Ghetto, USA
wherein where the flies can’t even live
shadows of tenements become dull
the snow on the television disappears
with news saying the same headline that
newspapers of the morning will read that
they have news of when we can see
a Black president in the Whitehouse
that’ll be the day I say in Swahili
JEWE
that’ll be the day I say in Swahili
JEWE SIMBA
I AM LION
that’ll be the day I translate
something African to American
Uncle Tom Jim Crow and some
Hurricane named Katrina
have nothing on me
hear the roar
hear the roar
a South Africa plus Mandela
hear the roar
this hour Black is beautiful
when we can see Black presidents
in the Whitehouse that’ll be the day
I say I want my Blackness that’ll be the day
I say I want my Blackness to stay on
I say I want my Blackness to stay on me
Poem by Robert R. Reese. Mr. Reese earned a B.A. in English from Santa Clara University, wrote this poem first in 2004, and holds a fellowship with the national African-American poetry organization, Cave Canem.
