how to get over ["be born: black..."]

be born: black as ants on a chicken bone black as Nina Simone and Mahalia’s moan black as rock pile smile and resilience black as resistance and rhythm and Sonny’s blues black as no shoes and dirt floors black as whore and Hottentot foxtrot Lindy Hop and Watusi pussy and pyramids black as darkness under your eyelids black between your legs black as dregs of rum sugarcane summer plums holyghost hum black as bruised throat fieldholla wading in the shallow black as ocean river stream creek running black transparent translucent transatlantic slanted shanties planted in red clay black as funky chickens and chitlins and kinfolk sold away black as auction block and slop and hip-hop and rock and roll and chop shop and cop cars and parole and overseer patrols and one drop rules and pools of blood black as beige and good hair and sounding white and light-skindeded and my grandmamma is Cherokee, Iroquois, Choctaw black as pit bulls and lockjaw and rage and hoodies black eyes and black-eyed peas peasy heads and loose tracks black as trees and noose and hounds let loose in the night black as fist and fight Sojourner and Nat Turner and righteousness black as fuck and not giving a fuck mud-stuck and quicksand quick hand hustle thigh muscle and hurdle black as cotton and tobacco and indigo black as wind and bad weather and feather and tar and snap beans in mason jars black as nigga please and hallelujah black asses and black strap molasses and turn your black back on audiences black as banjo and djembe and porch and stoop and spooks sitting by the door black as roaches in front of company and lawn jockeys and latchkey kids and high bids and spades and shittalk black as cakewalk and second line and black magic and tap dance, lapdance and alla that ass black as jazz and juke and juju and spirit disguised as harmonica spit black as cast-iron skillets and grits and watermelon seeds flitting from lips black as tambourines hitting cornbread hips black batons splitting lips and Martin Luther King, Jr. boulevards and downtown beatdowns black sit-ins and come-ups and oops upside yo’ heads and we shall overcomes and get down on it black get into it black let’s get it on and get it while the getting is good black as white hoods and backwood revivals black as survival and Trayvon and Tyrone and Josephus and amen and Moses and Jesus and getting over black—