when the night comes
the fears come on.
the breathless heap of things asked of me
the fear, once mirror, now a siren.

i fear the courage that had wrapped me
in the boldness of myself.
i fear the longing i deny for the things
that close in.

i fear the wakefulness of the dreams
i cannot bury
that instead claw themselves to the
eyes blinked open.

i fear the joy that comes
when my skin darkens in the sun
"don't get too black, for they won't love you"
the terror that comes.

i fear the rapture
that takes over, when my hands hold
myself,
deeply.
wholly.
holy.

i fear the fear
has no home in this body
and the fear
has feared me back.

We dance to shake dem woes
that be terrorizing we sleep. 
Lord dem woes become louder than 
da blood beat of our people.

We dance cause we scared. 
Scared that the boogie white knight
gon come get us in da dark. 
Even though we see them, 
and they know it. 

We dance cause we mourn. 
Our kinfolx dead or lost.
But we gotta shake off we tears
before they see. 

We dance cause we still alive-
ever searching for one more thing to
our belief to. 

We dance to live for yet another moment
​while we still can. 

A response piece to our Muslim families currently banned and torn from us.

--One by one
they throw the bodies in.
Never looking over the ironclad money built towers
to see the faces.
An old auntie once told me that if they come for them,
they'll come for us
cause they always come.
When they fear the tides of change-
that KKKKKRAACK! from Oya's whip-
they'll come.
Where they fear the magic of the she-
whether gifted or crafted,
earth made or self made,
they'll come.
When they hear the roars of the mother languages of homelands they'll never know,
they'll come.
When they see who carries the people-
the tired, the lost, the dark, the foreign, the dwellers inbetween,
they'll come.
When they wonder how to steal our essence and kill our life to sell,
they'll come.
When they see the cloaks of those who sing love songs to God(e)
with "Inshallah"
best believe they'll come.
And when they do,
it will be under the guise of salvation.
The mask of greatness.
The cancer of whiteness on high alert of the fear of no longer
knowing what home looks like
cause they done forgot to praise their ancestors the first time around
so they make sure to kill ours.
They'll come when their frightened.
But they'll come for them first.
They'll come for your brother miles away.
Then they'll come for your school teacher.
Then they'll come for your neighbor.
But by then, after the bodies are thrown in
You know you will be next.
And then you'll wonder how you ever forgot that they'll always come.