Analysis of Black
“Are you Black?”, he shouts out.
This friend I’ve made on the streets of La Jolla,
This sweet, homeless friend who watches me walk by every day,
Believed my curly hair, my high-cheekbones and melanin did betray,
My true African American parentage.
“Maybe”
I flash a smile and answer “maybe”.
I smile.
I smile knowing that that wasn’t skepticism.
That that wasn’t hatred or fear.
But a gentle acknowledgement of our shared brethren.
Black.
It’s interesting how I go from being an Asian-brown to an Indian-black.
Just hopping across the Atlantic, welcome back!
Black.
Not the familiar call of a loving brother.
Just Black…
or Kala or Blackie,
Or my favorite still, “Madrassi”.
Not black like the Kajal that lines and cools the prying eyes of my ex’s Brahmin mother,
Nor black like the skin of the Gods they pray to.
The same one’s they paint blue,
so as to not betray their origin’s true.
But, Black.
Black like tar they can trod on and stomp away from their son’s life.
Like the kind that can cause him and his family so much strife!
Gripped with fear for their eternal Brahmin souls that may never see heaven,
Unyielding, because of the terrible shame my melanin brings upon them.
Log kya kehenge?????
Yet,
Unfazed by their son’s fetish for Beef tongue tacos.
Unconcerned with their daughter’s growing penchant for the Blood curry in that Corner Kadai.
I watch silently as my blackness,
slowly paves the way to utter darkness.
Watch as some of my Brahmin friends turn a blind eye,
Patting him on his back for that White Brahmin wife.
They say, “What can we do”?
You are but a Non-Brahmin, AND Black.
True.
This much IS true
I AM Black.
Black, like their hearts,
like the fear that chips away at their humanity,
Like the darkness that will come for them in the end,
Where nothingness will greet them,
At the shiny gates of Hell.
Scheme | abccdeefghiJjjJkjelkmmmjnniodplallqnmjmmjleros |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111111 11111011110 111011101111001 0111011110100101 111000100100 10 110101010 11 1110111100 1111011 10100100110110 1 11001111101101111001 110010010101 1 100101101010 11 11110 1110011 11101110101011111010 11101101111 011111 11110111001 11 111111101011111 101111101100111 111110101011110110 0100110100111001011 111 1 011111011110 01111010101011001101 111001110 1010111010 111111011011 101111111101 111111 111011001 1 1111 111 1111 1011101110100 101011111001 1100111 1010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,878 |
Words | 369 |
Sentences | 31 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 46 |
Lines Amount | 46 |
Letters per line (avg) | 31 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,420 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 325 |
About this poem
This poem is about the everyday racisms and colorism that I have to endure all my life growing up in India.
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Written on June 22, 2022
Submitted by saminathanpriyanka9 on June 24, 2022
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:50 min read
- 1 View
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"Black" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 20 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/130581/black>.
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