Woods & Water

Woods & Water,

They say it’s irrational how we fear them,

Soft laughter about how Black folk don’t camp, can’t swim,

And don’t wander too far from the roads,

Acting like they don’t know why, I remember,

The trees can recall,

The sound of our swinging bodies still ricochets off the bark,

Our names whispered amongst the branches,

Here’s my secret: there’s a warning label in my genes,

An evolutionary caution hardwired into my DNA,

A forest? Never simply a forest,

It’s the place you’d find your son or daughter after a three-day search if you're lucky,

And the water?

They say we sink,

As if we have iron bones,

No! You see, oceans transported our chains,

Lakes swallowed our screams,

Emmett Till refused to bow, so the water became his grave,

There were victims prior to Emmett and after,

Harriet used woods & water successfully evading capture,

With the North Star as her only master,

But hell,

Today, woods produce fresh leaves,

Water glitters with a glimmer of Black’s forgiveness,

Beaches are no longer segregated,

They can’t pour acid in our pools no mo’,

The parks can’t bar me because of my complexion,

And every step I take on a trail feels like a little rebellion,

Can’t wait to freedom stomp my feet this summer at Myrtle Beach,

Declaring, “I too belong to the woods and water that were once stolen from me.”