• “Last Black American Poem,” a Poem by Danez Smith

    From the Collection “Bluff”

    Last Black American Poem

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    Voted for the negro twice, twice my captor
    Wore my face. Admit it, Danez, you loved
    Your master in your shade. Yes, I loved
    Knowing the color at the end of my chain
    Matched mine. ((Wrong river. It wasn’t chains
    It was water when one of us helmed the boat.
    Water for our eyes, water raised to the lips
    Of cargo. Still cargo. In summer
    We turned down that Jeezy, learning a new one’s
    Slain name. The helm and still. The boat, still
    Headed to Carolina shores.)) My president was Black
    When mothers got millions in exchange for sons.
    Michelle’s perm was perfect as bombs dropped
    In the middle of childhoods.
    We buried my grandpa with an Obama button
    Pinned to his lapel. Finally free, we sent him to heaven
    American. When he won, we sprinted Bascom Hill
    & danced like happy slaves at Lincoln’s feet.
    We were happy ass slaves, happy to vote
    Happy to be able to protest the killing
    We couldn’t end, happy for healthcare
    That killed us slower, happy the gays could marry
    In the country where trans women vanished
    Like snow in warm winters
    Happy our wars were only of the mind
    Only elsewhere.

    Forgive me, I wrote odes to presidents.

    ______________________________

    Bluff: Poems - Smith, Danez

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    Last Black American Poem” copyright © 2024 by Danez Smith. Reprinted from Bluff with the permission of the author and Graywolf Press. www.graywolfpress.org All rights reserved.


    Danez Smith
    Danez Smith
    Danez Smith is the author of four collections including Don’t Call Us Dead, Homie, and, most recently, Bluff. For their work, Danez was won the Forward Prize for Best Collection, the Minnesota Book Award in Poetry, the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry, the Kate Tufts Discovery Award, and have been a finalist for the NAACP Image Award in Poetry, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the National Book Award. Danez lives in Minneapolis with their people.





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