Daydreamin’
Many nights I
daydream about
time capsules, blackness,
black history of how we
came to be.
Daydreamin’ at night I
am in Dahomey,
in Biloxi, in Charlotte Amalie
pickin’ cotton, rice, sugarcane, and coffee –
yearnin’ to be free, yearnin’ to be we.
Many nights I
daydream about
the 54thMassachusetts Infantry, Birth of a Nation,
reconstruction of a new nation
of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the Earth.
Daydreamin’ at night I
am in Rosewood & Tulsa and sigh
hangin’ from a tree, burned, or in a river and cry
poll taxes, Ku Klux Klan, and green books — askin’ myself why
black bodies to see, in public, despite our plea.
Many nights I
daydream about
bein’ in Money, Mississippi,
in the Audubon Ballroom, and in Memphis, Tennessee,
preventin’ what was, fulfillin’ what’s meant to be.
Daydreaming at night I
think of selling out, staying woke,
getting old, being broke,
trying to be a quota or a token
wanting to fix the systems against us — intentionally & forever broken
Many nights I
daydream about
Daydreamin’ at night I
