PoetrySelf & Psychological Fragmentation

Never IC3 but a Grateful and Amazing Brunette Brown

By One Comment1 min read
Never IC3. Tropical Manchester scene: A shaven-headed man offers a red-wrapped chocolate bar to a stern policeman, as a woman leans in to kiss his cheek.

never ic3

“Shechorah שְׁחוֹרָה (dark, sun-blackened) am I, yet lovely…” — Song of Solomon

never ic3 —
proud and black,
in fact,

it seems to me
definitively brown:
the colour of cocoa beans
grown in Ashanti.

yesterday my niece
called a Nigerian “blick” —
that’s when you
get real bun by the sun.

in Manchester’s
glorious summers
i get bun up,
but never so blick;
more like
dark bournville
chocolate.


Back to Identity, Self & Fragmentation

More from the archive:

Sonnet for a Silver Bullet

Homecoming, Identity and Belonging

Further reading:

Police Code for Black People

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