The Woman I Am
I am not the woman,
who once ruled,
the Nile.
I am not the woman,
who led others to freedom
on the Underground Railroad.
I am not the woman,
whom they crowned
Ms. America.
I am not the Woman,
whose beauty they are marketing
like art nouveau & Coca-Cola
I am not the Woman
Named: Eve/Evita/Anita/Delilah
a capitalist tool,
hammering at your champions
Seducing & castrating the brothers
Sending them to their corporate lynching
Vietnam
Kabul
Riker’s Island.
I am not the Woman
to be marginalized by Iconism.
To be infantalized by ghettocentrism.
To be dreadlocked by Afrocentrism.
I am not the woman,
to sing others hymns
and praise others Gods.
I am not the woman
to be defined/defamed,
under a Madonna-whore complex.
I am not:
A Bootylicious/Bad Bitch/Bottom Bitch/Top Bitch/Island Bitch
Baby Mama/Basketball Wife.
Nor
Matriarch/Jezebel/Respectable Lady/Welfare Queen.
I am not the Woman
to hide the secrets of the Diaspora
in my throat
under my skirts
up my rectum.
I did not arrive here
on the Banana Boat/Quota Boat.
I am not sitting here
digesting,
Black-eyed peas, pig feet, plantains
& semen.
Excreting,
a dozen illegitimate children.
When you discover
the woman I am,
it will be as if you have,
drunk the Wine of Astonishment.
iamsherleyfierce 