To what do I owe this ...
     Contempt 
          for Black identity
     This ... War 
          on melanin

I bet people don't realize
How much they've internalized
     Respectability Politics, Racial Hierarchy
     Hair Discrimination, Shades of Colorism
     ... To name a few

Do not delegitimize
Or discredit
Your lived experiences
           ... as "touchy-feely."
Brushing them away
Under the guise of
Polite
Respectable
White, Western objectivity

I'm calling you out
That's what this poem's about

Not all mirror work is affirmation. Some of it is interrogation.
This poem confronts things I’m actively working to expel. The war doesn’t stay outside, even if that’s where it started. I am proud of how far I’ve come and I recognize there’s more to go.

© 2025 Samantha Williams. All Rights Reserved.