Swimming

Swimming I am excellent Gliding Across the pool Ageless Timeless Head down Arms outstretched Sleek Legs tuck Then kick out Unhurried An enormous Graceful African prince From Buffalo Swimming among the Jews Moving in the cool wetness Long forgotten Are the cold dark machines The stomach tighteners Leg lifts And treadmills That brought out The sweat Sped up My heart and Dried my tongue I am with my ancestor Swimming A tributary Of the Congo River In 1454 Unenslaved Undiscovered Unafraid I am home At last Next I swim To Kentucky In the Great Migration Knowing I must move my family Or be hung It’s time to leave the south And our land behind I am Great Grandfather Sam Williams Slavery is not How we got here It is what we are leaving Now I am in the 4th grade Being integrated Moving 10 blocks Into a new world Far from The black workers Shopkeepers And barbers And into Whiteness Where I learn That I am a black bastard And what was It that These little white bastards Say That turns me Into A fighter And beater Of skulls What was it In the bad memory Of teachers Who do not expect Me To rise above Being tracked With boys Being groomed For Vietnam The street And drugs With girls Tracked for pregnacy And welfare I swim away From others expectations And swim toward my own I swim for a life without war I swim for a brighter future For me And those who swim behind me Like my nephews and nieces I swim for my heart My mind My life And My excellence I swim Because I can KyattamanWhat you see is what you get Written April 6th, 2002 © on Apr 06 2002 08:25 AM PST   0 • 9