For Those Who Call Themselves Human When Asked What Race They Are
1.
Did you know
before whiteness was driven deep as a stake supporting the big top circus tent
intermarriage was as common as dark mares mating dappled stallions
Nigerians and Irish, Ghanaians and Germans
strolled home in tandem after collecting crops of cotton
climbed ladders to mend each other’s roofs
spun fireside yarns near the pompous glow of plantation mansions
Until such camaraderie caused clammy palmed plantation owners
to concoct a cunning horse and pony show
on one side feral black stallions gnashed beastly teeth
on the other stunning white steeds bore agreeable trick riders
my English Irish Scottish German ancestors climbed ladders
to stand on slippery saddles
Now like the spider who swallowed the horse to catch the cow
we whites don’t know why
we still balance edgily, eyes focused forward, smiling
2.
I knew a father
whose raven-headed, doe-eyed sons
would stretch out his cinnamon hued fingers and inward curling arms
every evening
pressing them down with the weight of their slight bodies
like brake pads rubbing the wheel rims of his thirty year old arms
every morning tendonitis inflamed he climbed ladders, mended roofs
Every once in awhile after work
his wife picked him up from jail
because he’d been accused again
of being illegal
even though he was born in Bakersfield
she kept his birth certificate and passport in her glove compartment
on these nights his kids missed easing his erosion
So go ahead, tell the raven headed men who stand beside you
that you are not white, but human
they can see you are blind
to the color of their father’s wounded palms
stretched out cross-like every evening
continuing to sacrifice himself
nailing down the secret of the big top
Lorena Boswell
