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Just Is - Where There Are Black People in the Future

By Jaden Fields

It is the steadiest “I love you”
Until the moon loses their footing in the sky
Which is to say - never
Or
I love you beyond time
Or
I love me beyond time

And love say “bring us your heavy”
And love say “let me feed you”
And love say “bless the honey of your laughter”
And love say “welcome the wisdom of those tears”
And love say “I believe in the how and why of you”
And love say “we contain multitudes”
And love say “let my rage never shrink the expanse of you”
And even my rage mean “I love you”
Mean “I’m actually feeling something:
Mean “they didn’t take all this feeling”
Mean “I have needs here”

And need don’t sit like burden
And need don’t hang in the lie of too much
And need ain’t guilt
Ain't guilt
Ain't guilt
Ain't guilt
Ain't guilt
Let need fall safely into the arms of “we got you”

Which is to say - we just is
The Black joy just is
The Black breath just is
The Black just is

And that is-ness be the softest part
And that is-ness be the medicine
And that is-ness be the answer

 

 

 

Listen as Jaden Fields reads Just Is - Where There Are Black People in the Future.
Added: Friday, October 25, 2024  /  Used with permission. This poem first appeared in Level Ground's "SKEW Magazine."
Jaden Fields
Photo by Paolo Riveros.

Jaden Fields is a performer, poet, story collector, community organizer, and cannabis enthusiast from ancestral and unceded lands of the Tongva peoples, colonially known as Los Angeles. As a survivor of child sexual abuse, Jaden believes in the beauty of vulnerability and the strength in the stories our bodies hold. He trusts that storytelling is an ancestral form of healing magic. Jaden has facilitated healing-centered writing workshops and performed all over Los Angeles, including LA Pride, Long Beach Pride, Venice Pride, and DTLA Proudfest. Jaden self-published his first poetry zine, Intentional Musings on Staying Alive When I Want To Die (2019), an honest depiction of navigating mental health and systemic oppression. His work has been featured in Level Ground’s SKEW Magazine (Vol 2, 3, 4).

Image Description: Jaden Fields poses in a park. He's a brown-skin bald Black trans man, with round glasses and a septum ring. He is wearing a raw labradorite choker, a gray crop top with a stylized image of James Baldwin, and a light shirt with big black circles on it.

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