I will not be your puppet in a minstrel show
Because I guarantee no Mammy, Jezebel, or Sambo lives here
You may try to control my thoughts and dreams
But I will not be your Venus Hottentot
As you stare in awe of my beauty through a glass cage
I will not be your freak show
or your gateway to a cultural experience
So please find your own
I will not be your token prize that you flaunt for credibility
Referencing my existence ever-so-often to quench your thirsty guilt
I will not allow you to parade my black skin as a badge of honor
I will not let you touch my kinky locs
I will not let you use my tears to wash away your sins
I will not ‘dance monkey dance’
I will not sing or perform for you
My body is not a vessel for your insecurities
Do not twist and turn my limbs into a web of amusement
I will not plaster a smile on my face while you poke and prod my soul
Because I do not belong to you
COPLA 74 INVOCATION: This Bad Guy World
Is the quark a zero sum dot
Likewise the table to the mountain:
Try dot the spot
So is the gogga to Hottentot
And your toddler to the dragon:
Earth mere sun spot
Solar system lost in galaxy
Universe in Multiverses:
All gone to pot
Whose is the sum of this jelly
All strung up in stringy ellipses:
Might turn(ed) to rot
© T. Wignesan – Paris, 2014
Indigo's heat...
hotten not for the hottentot,
way down there in sweet Victoria,
wears cool pants n bra, cooly-cold yah,
from the freezer is my story-are ....
Don Johnson
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.