Inam Sinelizwi Manyala Poems

Good mothers.
Our mothers keep us in the dark just for us to have a tomorrow that’s bright.
Good intended lies. Yeah, maybe not well enough.
Inside cocoons, we grow with neither fathers nor their whereabouts.
...

...stories you've been told got you thinking being dark skinned is ugly, now you bleaching, trying to lighten up your skin tone.
stories you've been told turned you a religion freak, thinking your culture is wrong.

...I've been told being black is being blinded by the darkness of my past, being black is the writings of all my ancestors who fought the oppressor. Now they’re sending out all the messages in the form of my skin.
...