Which Keeps Me (blackjewish)

The black is the stain on me that everyone feels more comfortable
ignoring. The Jewish is that too. The water is the thing that keeps
me here; I am not sure if that is a good thing. When I say rope,
I mean that which coils and unfurls.

When I say black I mean that which remains as constant
as water. The water is the thing which coils and unfurls.

The Jewish is that too. When I say mother, I mean
the thing that keeps me here; I mean good thing; I mean
I am not sure. The thing that everyone feels more comfortable
ignoring is the black. The stain is that too.

When I say unfurling, I mean my afro. When I say afro,
I mean my Jew-fro; it coils and coils and coils.

When I say the thing that keeps me here, I mean I cut it off, curl
by curl. When I say cut I mean plucked, I mean Jewish; I mean
the stain on me that everyone feels comfortable plucking rope by rope.
When I say pluck, I mean Africa, I mean Jamaica; I mean coils

and coils and coils. When I say coils, I mean Russia,
I mean Poland, I mean curl by curl by curl.

The water is the thing that keeps me here. When I say here,
I mean not here; I mean never was; I mean the stain
that everyone feels more comfortable ignoring. When
I say ignoring, what I mean is Tuskegee, what I mean is

Auschwitz, what I mean is rope, which coils and unfurls--
what I mean is rope        which coils and unfurls

and remains as constant as water; I mean which keeps me here;
I mean which brought me here; I mean that which blackens and un-
Jews, I mean hip hop and new shoes, I mean solid and un-bruised.
When I say good thing, what I mean is I am sure it is not. The black

is that too. The Jewish is that too. The Jewish is black too. The stain
is the water is the rope; the curls are coils unfurling and unfurling

like an afro, like an afro, like an answer, plucked out of the water

black

          by black

                         by black

                                        by black.

—AARON SAMUELS