“Inspection / at auction”

A Poem by Harmony Holiday

Breasts     full     middled

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Face     radiant     comfort girl or inhouse breeder

Equipment     ripe   unreconciled     no prior attempts

Stance     bitter   ravenous     recoiled

Hate makes her servile

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Buttocks     firm     raised     wide

Hiding style     plain sight

Petite frame     tribal marking on the face above right upper lip     entropic indent

Mouth     full/careful

Teeth   so hip     made to break the language open & fix her name a home

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Likelihood of inducing owner’s empathy   or love   or lust    high

Likelihood she has suitors of her own kind     certain

Likelihood they will take the whip for her or run away when held at gunpoint     unclear

Likelihood the president will date her on stage     unknown, what are you even saying?

Name : M a a f a

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Meaning     Black Holocaust     astonishing surrender     ma at     kick rocks, those are diamonds

Beautiful walking graves chased off the water

Skin     perfect no blemishes or permutations in pigment

Hair     coiled     star in the center of a tight afro     scar of a star

Eyes     unimpressed     still a little wistful

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Nose     wide & aquiline at the same time

Symmetry     impeccable     dangerous

Tone of voice     bewildered

Likelihood she’d call Jesus daddy?

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MAAFA

Maafa by Harmony Holiday is available via Fence Books.

Harmony Holiday

Harmony Holiday

Harmony Holiday is a poet, dancer, archivist, mythscientist and the author of Negro League Baseball (Fence, 2011), Go Find Your Father/ A Famous Blues (Ricochet 2014) and Hollywood Forever (Fence, 2015). She was the winner of the 2013 Ruth Lily Fellowship and she curates the Afrosonics archive, a collection of rare and out-of print-lps highlighting work that joins jazz and literature through collective improvisation.