Totality of my Blackness 

                    For Lawrence 

My name is Natisha Ryan

And I swallowed the drunken half moon 

that bled in the totality of my Blackness

She sang in a nude silhouette

Above Mozambique for a Zulu Priest 

I was a robed Christian

His brains were shot out in Amsterdam

Africa!

An unhoused Black girl in 5th grade is given an

award for scholastic achievement

She was dark skinned in glasses and cornrows

Her family scrambled for nourishment

Civil liberties! 

The sun rises above Mesopotamia

A Black woman dressed herself with the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers 

She was robed as Ebony a gift from Inanna dripped in gold spoke

 other languages 

Blossoms pour forth from a scribe

The city slickers cross a toll bridge to graffiti tag a train 

Glittering stars fall

Across Black Zambia 

I can see the homeland

My imaginary husband left me standing at the altar 

In Brazil fostering a poor Black woman’s dream

The walls of Yemaya’s mansion stand tall

The naiads slept on black lotuses 

Used to hide in the West Indies

Beauty’s mask was stolen by the

Crudest kleptomaniacs known as the Bronze age freaks that chirped loud

I dressed my urban hut with dried eucalyptus plants and bought 

Some gel activator

My love was a black tie foreign double agent 

I ran with forbidden centaurs with a shrouded Neso 

My Blackness became drunk 

I exited a Black pantomime affair 

My totality of Blackness was like the ocean waves 

By Tiffany Haty

February 10th, 2025