All Black Everything

Gimme that all black everything / that black-on-black /that afro black/that "Good Jesus!" black/ that Jesus with an afro black/that anise black / like licorice jelly beans that make you pee green / black so black that you hafta use another color to describe it  / like scary alleys and punches to the eyeball  / Black like Grace Jones' obsidian collar bones and shoulders the color of cacao beans / Black like Cicely Tyson, Alex Wek and Roshumba / Black like Jimmy Walker dating Anne Coulter

NOT Uncle Remus black but that Harriet Tubman packin a pistol black / Prosser, Turner, DeSalinas black / even that John Brown was down black / that Sunshine in Harlem Knights black / that Yaphet Koto, you know - the kind of black that makes your eyes bloodshot red / that black that was the color of original skinheads/that blue black and Purple Rain/ boot black and Soul Train/ like black power and black pain

Don’t gimme that “blackisbeautiful”  clichéd kind of black /  gimme that black that makes you clutch your purse tighter on elevators  /  the kinda black that you bring home purposely to piss your parents off / 

That black that’s the background at the end of every movie / you know, what the white credits roll over… / that black like double dutch / black like the skillet handed down from my grandmother

I don’t want that black that killed Malcolm / or the meltdown of the Panthers black /not the fathers who didn’t whup R.Kelly’s ass black / Naw, gimme that Black like Samir and Aja Black / black like Ester Rolle’s cheek bones /  black like the music that Elvis stole  /  Black like rappers got beef / Black like the food in the belly of the beast 

Black like Stacy Adams gators / black Like Now&Laters / like Red is a color AND a Koolaid flavor /  That black that’ll make you wanna slap you mama / Black like she’ll beat that ass if you even think about tryin it / Black like we’ll rent it before we think to buy it

give me that black-love black/that Barack and Michelle-love black/ that I kicked you out set your s*** on fire and I still took you back black/that Michael Jackson with the big nose black /that grease-popping food cooked at home black/give me that FUBU and phat farm black/that flip flops and house shoes black/that spit on the broom if it touches you black/that coat hangar antenna, back of the remote broke and missing black/

Gimme that black that some colors run from / and other colors wanna be 

Close your eyes – gimme that black that you can’t help but see

That All Black Everything / The Black you find everywhere

Black like a sun collapsed by gravity

Black like we tryna get free
Like the black I will always see in you

Like the black that'll always lives in me...

That
All
Black
Everything