Blackgirl's Survival Guide (for life in Copenhagen)
To get your hair done
If you a Black girl in
There ain’t no real
Place to buy make up too…
They ain’t no hues as
Amber, chestnut or butterscotch.
(White girls don’t need that shit).
There ain’t no place
To buy collards,
Yams, breadfruit
Grits.
They ain’t no
Magazines
That celebrate us
They ain’t no news
To uplift us
The only thing we
Got is a broken
Mirror
Whose image
We can not
Believe in.
All you really need tho’
Is a little shampoo
Conditioner,
burnt brown powder
And carnelian colored lipstick.
(Oh, and don’t forget the sign
That says,
No,
I am not
A prostitute.)
If it glitters it gold
baby
And if you think it hard to get your hair done,
Then try finding a brother!
But girl, for real tho’
all you really need,
In your refrigerator
Is a bag of weed, ,
A bottle of champagne,
That cooling eye thing
And some nail polish—
And you gotta
At least have
one friend
you can
Call Sister.
& while you are at it
try not to forget,
(although it will be hard)
that there are sisters
like Toni Morrison
Alice Walker
Maryse Conde
Nikki Giovianni
And if it gets really hard to remember who
You are amidst all the
Em-TV hoochies,
Then turn your
Tv off.!
And if it really gets hard to remember
Who you are,
Put faces on the wall,
Pictures of
Angela Davis
(Raising her fist)
Harriet Tubman
Nella Larsen
(you taking
notes right?)
Nanny of the Maroons
Sojourner Truth
Phyllis Wheatley
Phoolan Devi.
Girl, remember
To check yourself
So you don’t
Forget yourself--
Look at yourself in the mirror
And say
That today,
I’mma be
Myself
Despite,
Despite
And if you
Listen to your
Heart,
You know
What I mean.
And that’s
the
Black girl
Survival Guide
For
Life
In
