A Memory of Snow
My first memory of English snow
Is the first Black president-elect.
that morning’s dark walk to work
broken by faint fingers on my face
snowflakes, drifting like confetti
melting after settling on my skin.
Now, my nephews could be presidents,
more of the American promise fulfilled
and me away in England. It wasn’t
absolution; I was still Black, yet
somehow, I felt the world had shifted. At
school, my colleagues smiled, asking
about a world post-race. Later, two students
drew him bleeding from a bullet in his head.
I’m Black Mixed With Detroit*
I’m a Black singularity gorged
with starlight and time, enough –
to make you think you made
this shit up yourself, without
reminding you where it came
from. Black as Garett A Morgan,
Charles Drew, Ellington, Toussaint,
Black as soft sweating olives in
summer’s sun, and yes summer
is Black too, like my daughters’
pupils. They’ve seen you stare:
envious. How audacious they are!
I’m Malcolm, draped in Kente,
under the over-sized statue of
Joe Louis’ fist, in a John Carl
stance, gloved hand glistening.
My Blackness is petrichor. I’m
so Black. Smell my spark-ready
powder. Does it frighten you, my
stride, my bullet tight movement?
This pride in coiled DNA? My
Blackness, faster than light,
precedes me and I love it with
no apology. Midnight is shades
too light for me. Blacker than
a panther’s velvet: effortless
wealth, power. See this Sable
crown? This Obsidian throne?
How dare they flaunt Blackness!
And why would we not? Us Black
and rich and natural as soil. Black
and boundless as the cosmos
*The title of this poem is borrowed from an art piece of the same name by Detroit artist James Charles Morris
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Elontra Hall is a Black-American poet and educator based in Northampton, UK. He is a Griots Well alumni as well as a Watering Hole and Obsidian fellow. Much of his work centres around fatherhood, basketball, relationships and identity. He is currently a student on the MA at the Poetry School.
Imported from Detroit! Great work Elontra!
So proud of you, brother!!!