When they see us
they want to be us
knowing that only we can be us!
from the swivel of hip
to haircuts
to the box braids
to the colors that
inhabit our skin
are melanin and
I hear that springs forth
as halos from the top of our heads?
only we can be us
because we got us
cause we came from us
the ancestors are
about the future at
our forward and
our eyes are still yet
watching God from
the belly of ships
to the White House
on the front steps—-
we are indeed everywhere!
there was no space
for blackness cannot touch!
and it is irredeemable
from whiteness,
but distinct from whiteness
yet black as where the unnecessary
Thinks is where whiteness
goes to die there—
There is no peace
of my blackness as
they wipe your skin
and have it and not
be touched and transform
The I am straight
with no I am straight
with no pay with
no chase a clear without
apology and I staying
as a non-binary
with me being necessary
the we that got us
is the way they got me
in the way that is
inside of me takes care
of all enemies when
the ancestor said as
we were taken from Shores
I am we
the I In the I AM
with was identity
the we was always their company
we are never by ourselves.
-JBHarris, March 2022
I Breathe Fire 