Coco(nut) Poem by Mahogany L. Browne

Beside the tree
Beside the chair
Beside the house
Beside the pit
Beside the tree stump
Coco say don't climb / so I don't / I sit & stare — my skin coming dark and burnt
They say: tire
I say: brown
They say: Black Black can't take back!
& I don't
I learnt to not ask where I'm from
I learn to listen, then not
I'm too scared they gone tell me the things about myself
I done already buried in the dark
Beside the tree  Beside the chair Beside the house Beside the pit
Beside the tree stump I sit I sit I sit 'til no one even know I'm (t)here