Black: A True Definition
Black
A word which seemingly needs no clarity
Define black.
Aside from the limitless darkness of its being
Forgetting its opposition to seek any light
Not one ray is shed from its existence
However, feelings continually emanate
Gloom and hostility poor from an unsighted catharsis
Resembling the furthest image from that which is white
Straying away from the similitude of innocence
Never crossing paths with characteristics of purity
The color of mourning, worn with sadness
Its coat covering the evil which dwells in the night
Chock-full of Good Friday's murky aura
Marked with anger and deep seeded distaste
Drowning with calamitous defeat and connotations
Black Friday, Black Hole, Black Propaganda
The sound of black leaves one feeling tainted
Soiled and polluted; left with no hope
Cleanliness seems to be only a figment of the black imagination
As futures look dark with no optimism
Society's perspective of this achromatic color appears grim
Black is presented as hopelessness
Black is full of misunderstanding
With the economy on the borderline of inadequate
Classism runs rampant
Racism runs alongside; fingers laced
In the midst of the darkest and coldest nights
Masked in blackness
Hiding from societal glares
Avoiding the heads that bow and shake in shame
Deliberately misleading
Black Propaganda
Define propaganda.
Influencing the behaviors and opinions of the people
Using logical fallacies
Lacking validity
But where truth lacks, there Black Art fills in
Reaching back to the darkest roots from which it stems
Blending the culture of Africa with that of our present place
Bringing America to life
Du Bois' double consciousness spreading uncontrollably
Coloring art with diversity and depth
Extending the hand of the present into the dark past
Bringing forth a bright and vibrant finished product
Forgetting the ideas of promotion and notoriety
Simply to place advocacy at center stage
Past the heavy velvet curtains of black derisory
Clouded with the dust of a sinister history
The Harlem Renaissance speaking to Black art's existence
Langston Hughes proves not to be the only one
Who too can Sing, America
The refusal to step in brightly lit footsteps
Pushing away from the path lined with acceptance
Declining to consume artistic expression
With the shiniest of silver spoons
Artists' who socially stemmed from darkness
Blazing paths and breaking molds
Speaking from experience and drawing from their souls
Are you not entertained?!
Well, entertainment is far from a priority
The minstrel shows are officially over
Making way for a rebirth of image
Rebirth of image
A new appreciation for art
A greater appreciation for self
All in the works to beat the hopelessness
Carried on the backs of a great ancestry
As blacks continued to climb up the racial mountain
A stumbling block in desperate need of removal
Utilizing the strokes against a wet canvas
Seeing potency in the ink which ran across the poet's pad
Acting as an informant for the Black community
Instilling the pride which had once been lost
Left behind on the soils of Sierra Leone
Listless souls shackled and chains
Locked in the darkness of wood bottom ships
Hopes and Dreams held prisoner
Until the ashes of self-love blew over the oceans
Landing on the corner of 131st and 5th
Reclaimed by the artistic voyage
Birthed from a womb of darkness
Hokum? Hogwash? Humbug?
Juxtaposing cultures as though they are identical
Schuyler's voice screams that it's all the same
But not with the sweat, the bloodshed and the pain
When each piece holds parts of stories untold
Burned with the ashes of fiery crosses
Healed with the lashings left from bloodied whips
Memories are excavated from a dirt covered road
Winding through a forest of discovery
No more passing
Standing true to the culture claimed
The art work created
Standing as a testament despite the darkness
Saying no to invisibility
After being hidden for eons
The darkness finally comes to light
Ten times the black to be "exclusively" white
Trying so hard to change the perception
Conformity is unacceptable
Working towards the truest from of visibility
As black is plowing towards approval
And though civilization is blind amidst the darkness
Cast upon the people by "the people"
Definitive norm people
Politically correct people
Darkness fights injustice every waking moment
To break away from the manacles of ambiguity
Creating a concrete progression
Finding what is truly beautiful
Black aesthetic
Define aesthetic.
As writing is used to demonstrate to a jaded society
Which parts of black art are of good taste
Allowing people to appreciate the realness
The beauty which can only be reflected in such obscurity
The soulful sounds of jazz
The beating of the conga drum
Sounds bursting with originality
Acting as inspiration to a never-ending chain
The classic sounds of Billie Holiday
"Good Morning Heartache"
Art crying out to be recognized
Wanting to feel as though it belongs
Striving to reach the pedestal on which clarity stood
Each note ringing out just shy of transparency
Never straying away from blackness
Only to prove that this aesthetic is apparent
Paving the way for the Afrika Bambaataa's
Turning the tables and uplifting the streets
Drawing art from poverty
Providing an escape from economic suffering
Utilizing the beat from wooden speakers
To speak to the masses
Allowing a New Aesthetic to show its face
Messages passed through the rhythmic sounds
Of the Run D.M.C.'s
A true form of poetry
Catchy tunes catching the attention
Of the greater audience
A people in desperate need of listening
Attempting to gain a better understanding
Beats leading the masses in a sector of darkness
Out of the night that covers me
Blinding both the He's and She's
Blurring the lines that give way to Sexism
Black Feminist
Define feminist.
Women liberated
Not constricted by the
Fighting to salvage the rights of the sisters
Mothers, aunts, daughters, friends
Craving equality
Art acting as a stepping stone
To sit beside The Black Aesthetic
Feeling the additions to an already present struggle
The weight of a burden twice as heavy
African American
African American Woman
Searching for a true identity in darkness
Left without light to look for a promising answer
Working twice as hard to gain the same respect
Two strikes against the black women of the world
Fighting off the stereotypes fabricated by society
Battling with class, race and sexuality
Black Queer
Define queer.
In the same binary battle
Deviating from what is generally expected
Putting society in an awkward position
As civilization sits underneath a warm lamp
Interrogated as gay men are expected to frolic
Without no flamboyance
Lives no homosexuality
Art is placed to prove them otherwise
Forcing issues out of the shade
Bringing awareness
Holding on to things irreplaceable
Snapping society into a verbal frenzy
Fitting into a world which appears unknown
A world which is black
Blackness
Define Blackness.
A plethora of opinions
Indescribable
Pictured as an issue of ambiguity
Most often times misunderstood
But never in darkness
Blackness is Blackness
Black needs no definition
Black
A word which seemingly needs no clarity
Define black.
Aside from the limitless darkness of its being
Forgetting its opposition to seek any light
Not one ray is shed from its existence
However, feelings continually emanate
Gloom and hostility poor from an unsighted catharsis
Resembling the furthest image from that which is white
Straying away from the similitude of innocence
Never crossing paths with characteristics of purity
The color of mourning, worn with sadness
Its coat covering the evil which dwells in the night
Chock-full of Good Friday's murky aura
Marked with anger and deep seeded distaste
Drowning with calamitous defeat and connotations
Black Friday, Black Hole, Black Propaganda
The sound of black leaves one feeling tainted
Soiled and polluted; left with no hope
Cleanliness seems to be only a figment of the black imagination
As futures look dark with no optimism
Society's perspective of this achromatic color appears grim
Black is presented as hopelessness
Black is full of misunderstanding
With the economy on the borderline of inadequate
Classism runs rampant
Racism runs alongside; fingers laced
In the midst of the darkest and coldest nights
Masked in blackness
Hiding from societal glares
Avoiding the heads that bow and shake in shame
Deliberately misleading
Black Propaganda
Define propaganda.
Influencing the behaviors and opinions of the people
Using logical fallacies
Lacking validity
But where truth lacks, there Black Art fills in
Reaching back to the darkest roots from which it stems
Blending the culture of Africa with that of our present place
Bringing America to life
Du Bois' double consciousness spreading uncontrollably
Coloring art with diversity and depth
Extending the hand of the present into the dark past
Bringing forth a bright and vibrant finished product
Forgetting the ideas of promotion and notoriety
Simply to place advocacy at center stage
Past the heavy velvet curtains of black derisory
Clouded with the dust of a sinister history
The Harlem Renaissance speaking to Black art's existence
Langston Hughes proves not to be the only one
Who too can Sing, America
The refusal to step in brightly lit footsteps
Pushing away from the path lined with acceptance
Declining to consume artistic expression
With the shiniest of silver spoons
Artists' who socially stemmed from darkness
Blazing paths and breaking molds
Speaking from experience and drawing from their souls
Are you not entertained?!
Well, entertainment is far from a priority
The minstrel shows are officially over
Making way for a rebirth of image
Rebirth of image
A new appreciation for art
A greater appreciation for self
All in the works to beat the hopelessness
Carried on the backs of a great ancestry
As blacks continued to climb up the racial mountain
A stumbling block in desperate need of removal
Utilizing the strokes against a wet canvas
Seeing potency in the ink which ran across the poet's pad
Acting as an informant for the Black community
Instilling the pride which had once been lost
Left behind on the soils of Sierra Leone
Listless souls shackled and chains
Locked in the darkness of wood bottom ships
Hopes and Dreams held prisoner
Until the ashes of self-love blew over the oceans
Landing on the corner of 131st and 5th
Reclaimed by the artistic voyage
Birthed from a womb of darkness
Hokum? Hogwash? Humbug?
Juxtaposing cultures as though they are identical
Schuyler's voice screams that it's all the same
But not with the sweat, the bloodshed and the pain
When each piece holds parts of stories untold
Burned with the ashes of fiery crosses
Healed with the lashings left from bloodied whips
Memories are excavated from a dirt covered road
Winding through a forest of discovery
No more passing
Standing true to the culture claimed
The art work created
Standing as a testament despite the darkness
Saying no to invisibility
After being hidden for eons
The darkness finally comes to light
Ten times the black to be "exclusively" white
Trying so hard to change the perception
Conformity is unacceptable
Working towards the truest from of visibility
As black is plowing towards approval
And though civilization is blind amidst the darkness
Cast upon the people by "the people"
Definitive norm people
Politically correct people
Darkness fights injustice every waking moment
To break away from the manacles of ambiguity
Creating a concrete progression
Finding what is truly beautiful
Black aesthetic
Define aesthetic.
As writing is used to demonstrate to a jaded society
Which parts of black art are of good taste
Allowing people to appreciate the realness
The beauty which can only be reflected in such obscurity
The soulful sounds of jazz
The beating of the conga drum
Sounds bursting with originality
Acting as inspiration to a never-ending chain
The classic sounds of Billie Holiday
"Good Morning Heartache"
Art crying out to be recognized
Wanting to feel as though it belongs
Striving to reach the pedestal on which clarity stood
Each note ringing out just shy of transparency
Never straying away from blackness
Only to prove that this aesthetic is apparent
Paving the way for the Afrika Bambaataa's
Turning the tables and uplifting the streets
Drawing art from poverty
Providing an escape from economic suffering
Utilizing the beat from wooden speakers
To speak to the masses
Allowing a New Aesthetic to show its face
Messages passed through the rhythmic sounds
Of the Run D.M.C.'s
A true form of poetry
Catchy tunes catching the attention
Of the greater audience
A people in desperate need of listening
Attempting to gain a better understanding
Beats leading the masses in a sector of darkness
Out of the night that covers me
Blinding both the He's and She's
Blurring the lines that give way to Sexism
Black Feminist
Define feminist.
Women liberated
Not constricted by the
Fighting to salvage the rights of the sisters
Mothers, aunts, daughters, friends
Craving equality
Art acting as a stepping stone
To sit beside The Black Aesthetic
Feeling the additions to an already present struggle
The weight of a burden twice as heavy
African American
African American Woman
Searching for a true identity in darkness
Left without light to look for a promising answer
Working twice as hard to gain the same respect
Two strikes against the black women of the world
Fighting off the stereotypes fabricated by society
Battling with class, race and sexuality
Black Queer
Define queer.
In the same binary battle
Deviating from what is generally expected
Putting society in an awkward position
As civilization sits underneath a warm lamp
Interrogated as gay men are expected to frolic
Without no flamboyance
Lives no homosexuality
Art is placed to prove them otherwise
Forcing issues out of the shade
Bringing awareness
Holding on to things irreplaceable
Snapping society into a verbal frenzy
Fitting into a world which appears unknown
A world which is black
Blackness
Define Blackness.
A plethora of opinions
Indescribable
Pictured as an issue of ambiguity
Most often times misunderstood
But never in darkness
Blackness is Blackness
Black needs no definition
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