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2 poems by Elontra Hall


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


__________

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. 

2 comments

2 Comments


Layla Williams
Layla Williams
Feb 02

Imported from Detroit! Great work Elontra!

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Ivan M.
Ivan M.
Jan 29

So proud of you, brother!!!

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