Calling poets to a greater role in public life and fostering a national network of socially engaged poets.
By Britteney Black Rose KapriAdded: Monday, October 22, 2018 / From "Black Queer Hoe," (Haymarket Books, 2018). Used with permission.don’t sister girl me or giiiiirl me or sis me or girlfriend me or hey bitch me. or any other slang you think me and other Black woman call ourselves when you’re not around. making it to the end of the book does not open some special key to nigga vernacular. i’m not your Black friend. not your hero. this book isn’t for you. it’s a celebration of my Blackness, my Queerness, my Hoeness, none of which exists without the other. if you want to celebrate me, buy me a shot or tell your cousins to stop asking if my wigs are my real hair. now i know, that you know, not to say nigga. but sometimes y’all act like you haven’t seen the same viral videos as me. you know, the ones where one of y’all step outside y’all body to the wrong nigga and get y’all whole ancestry knocked outta y’all. this book isn’t a rap song2. something to get caught up in and accidentally forget who you are. or where you are. if i see you reading along mouthing the word nigga i will stop my whole ass set to ask you why. embarrassing white folks and fuckboys is my american past time. this book isn’t an invitation. i am not your therapist or here to validate that one time you stood up to your grandpa by telling him colored was outdated. don’t applaud yourselves. instead show a Black woman you appreciate them. all we want is reparations and to be left the fuck alone.
by you.
_______
2. don’t say nigga when you’re rapping either
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Britteney Black Rose Kapri is the author of Black Queer Hoe (Haymarket Books, 2018). She is a teaching artist, writer, performance poet, and playwright from Chicago. She is an alumna turned Teaching Artist Fellow at Young Chicago Authors. She is a staff member and writer for Black Nerd Problems. She has also been published in Poetry, Vinyl, Day One, Seven Scribes, The Offing, and Kinfolks Quarterly. She is a 2015 Rona Jaffe Writers Award Recipient.