I Am Black

• Artist: Jezebel Firerim
• Description: Originally, this poem was a response to another poem written by former student at my school for whom I had strong feelings. However, as I came to create it, the poem became an expression of myself and the gradient of humanity.
  
  As it has rhythm in its repetitive theme of representation, you might go as far as calling it lyrical poetry, though it's certainly more of a poem than it is a song.
  
  If you want to read more of my writing, I am JezebelFirerim at deviantart.
• Date: 09/05/2008
• Tags: black identity race humanity jezebel

I am black
The voice of the visual spectrum,
Representation of every hue, every shade -
An amalgamation of the very essences
Of each vibrant existence that is color -
This is my identity.

The evanescent portrait of a sunset
Makes up the sinews of a veil worn in mourning -
The ebullient greens and moody blues that create a wave
Can be found in an instrument's finger board -
The clamorous glory of two blades in battle
Is reflected within the slitted pupil of a crouching feline -
The suffusion of pink that fills the sky with dawn
Exists within the dark side of the moon.

Just as everything that came before me
Now fills my being with longing for the past
As I trace everything back,
I realize how much it is apart of moving forward.

This is my identity.
Of each vibrant existence that is color,
I am an unadulterated opalescence
That exceeds the beauty of white pearls
That holds more continuity to the
Representation of every hue and every shade
Than a paua shell.

The crystal blue of my father's eyes lie within my pupil -
My mother's caramel skin within the darkest places of my hair -
The sweat that poured down the backs of my ancestors,
Somewhere deep inside of me. Waiting to be expressed as
The color of their liberty - something I never stop feeling.

I am the voice of the human spectrum.
All sights and sounds
Every tinted emotion
Every shade
Every hue
I am black.