I am a Black woman
mother-Black
father-Black
past, present, and future
all draped in Black
In the mundane reality
from being one of the 91%
to stop the world
from burning down
to being seen
as the attack dog
of all oppressors–
I often wonder
what would happen
if Black women
stopped coming?
If we stop
being the ones
to lay track only
to be hit by the trains.
if we were
to stop being
the gas
To power trucks that
Pass us.
The wind which powers
the ships or boats to sail–
being the coal that
you burn
in order to get the oil!
What would it
look like for Black women
to…stop?
To let the comet hit!
to let the bomb blow up!
To let y’all bleed out!
let the bills
Go unpaid
the children be unfed
Unprotected
Unloved
Strayed
and dirty–
what would happen
if Black women just…stopped?
just quit —
without explanation
to do the thing that
Our slave mothers
and recent grandmothers
could never do —
quit without apology
or fear of death.
To walk away
from everything
that business which
Never service us
love unreturned
job unrequited
the being underpaid
as well as overlooked
Being the stabilizers
of all things
in the universe
being both Black
and woman–
being both seen
and unseen
what would happen
if we just let everything go?
Like the balloons
From tired, cranky
Children at that
Are too tired
From a fair
what would happen
if we let you all
wish for us
only to hear us
drinking from crystal
Glasses with red lipstick
Our mothers told us
To get grown enough
To wear,
To hear our voices
in the wind
when we say
I told you so
-JBHarris, April 2022
I Breathe Fire 