What About Me? Poem by Adrienne Clark Strachn

I am a beautiful black woman of cocoa, cinnamon, nutmeg, pecan, complexion
I'm also tall, skinny, fat, short, plump,
long legged, big thigh, flat chested and big breasted.
I am a short hair, long hair, kinky, permed, dreaded, natural,
weaved, phoneytailed, no hair at all sister
A simply beautiful Black woman
who had your babies, lost some too,
took care of you, when you were unemployed, and took care of our kids while you hung out
even when you denied it
could have been fooling around
I Kept things in order for our family, for us
we made pretty babies too,
looked just like us.
Intelligent, educated, Ged, college grad
career woman, your lover
Do you see what i see?
Now it's time for me
Now what about me?

(2005)