INYIM Media Poem Corner: By Kevin Powell – “Janet Jackson Never Lies.” VIBE Contributor Pays Homage To The Pop Music Icon.
“won’t wait till she gone
to see what we got
cocoa-creamed queen in a big yellow taxi
mother father nine children
two-bedroom shoebox house
gary, indiana kool-aid acid test
generational trauma passed around
like a stillborn
baby
tucked inside a moth-ridden blanket
god’s gracious gift
her nametag
walking miracle
her laundry bag
little girls have dreams too
little girls want control too
super-woman super-star
african songs african griots
kidnappings middle passages
plantations beatings rapes of grown-ish bodies
reconstruction jim crow minstrel shows
black women blamed banished
like they still the un-godly mules of the earth
she smiles anyway she smiles anyway
sugar bowl of color envy malfunctioning
like a tree branch chopping a rope in half
you can shade her resume
but you can’t shade her hustle and flow.” – Vibe.com
