Poetry
They lean across my desk
They stand beside me
They ask someone else
They ignore my request
They take it off the agenda
They try to convince me
They say it’s my problem
They arrive after me
They stand in front
They cue behind me
They get served first
They turn their backs
They want to shake hands
They gave children guns
They stole my lands
They wounded my heart
They tortured my body
They blinded my heritage
They made the trail bloody
They show their tears
They want compassion
They carve their smiles
They follow fashion
They misinterpret my words
They don’t want my opinion
They wear their guilt
They can’t see I am broken
They fail to hear me
They want me silenced
They shrink away
They call my power violence
They invite challenge
They leave me on the frontline
They include me when
They want a token
They say show me how
They have their problems
They want it written
They don’t want it spoken
They come for my soul
They have already taken
They want me the same
They make me different
They want to be conscious
They want to do it right
They want me visible
They want me out of sight
Isha Mckenzie-Mavinga Oct 2002
Taking the knee is a powerful deed why don’t they believe
No government statement
about race hatement
means
Government lies
hoping racism dies
but
without challenge
acknowledgement
we will survive
Taking the knee
is a powerful deed
Why don’t they believe
the elephant out
on the football pitch
the unscratchable itch
wthout cricket investors
it festers
No longer dormant
relentless lament
black lives do matter
we determined to scatter
the ashes of racism
as it festers on pitches
an institution
of Great Great Britain
where they boo
ardent supporters
of black Lives Matter
So we are smitten
by other histories
twitters,Sniggers
grimy minds
of dirty dealers
should we punish
chastise
until they all realise
there is no disguise
no penalise
can redeem
the lies
Head in the sand
dusty corners
of oppression
collusion illusion
trauma
white knees
on Green
grass of home
background noise
of colonisation
regeneration
George Floyd
Breanna Taylor
over there
name those over here
Mark Duggan
Sean right
Sheku Bayou
Christopher Alder
Kingsley Burrel
Simeon Frances
Cherry Groce
Steven Lawrence
Not just a US token
My teeth are British
My skin is brown
My heart will not be broken
Isha Mckenzie-Mavinga July 2021
Once it was silenced
Tied my tongue
Brought to my knees
Arrested thoughts friendship and love
A need to please
resembled shydom
Deep suspicion
Squeezed life
out of Connection
A certain block
in my equilibrium
Refused to let me see
Refused to let me be
Accept them
Vulnerable and human
As they present to me
kind and generous
With two of everything
Except tongue,Nose,
teeth, Belly button
things we share
Not always seen
learned to look them
Eye to eye
keep my soul within
Balance me again
meet without forced grin
Xen
No phobia
Gone
Now
Now then
Phobia
Going
Going
Gone
Down a notch
Then one
Then another
Then one