Mrs. B’s Poem

michaela “mickey” james-thrower

What does it mean to be a Black woman in the south? 

I don’t know

Does it mean compliancy? 

To let people talk down at you? 

What does it mean to be a Black woman in the south? 

Is it fear? 

To walk with your eyes on 

the ground? 

Is it war? 

Is it fighting with yourself and a legacy 

that doesn’t accept you? 

I don’t know 

I don’t know a lot of things 

but I do know 

a woman 

I know a woman who talked to them 

A woman who held her head high 

A woman that was born here

A woman that lived 

as if she owed this place her life 

As if she owed these people her life 

A woman that spoke to them 

That promised me things 

A woman that kept promises 

A woman that acted on her words 

That loved through her actions 

She enforced peace with her presence 

Honesty 

Is so uncommon 

But it was so easy to find 

In a woman who loved with her whole body 

Who honestly and genuinely promised me 

that being a Black woman in the south 

was possible