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You Tell Your Father
by Penda Mbaye Z. Smith 

before he knows
he says that a man 
is like a lion
with a ravenous appetite
a colonial hunger
only blood can  
satiate, this new 
generation of women 
humor in his eyes 
want to do it all
themselves, who think
they don’t need
no man yeah alright 

he laughs 
his long locs grapevines 
gently sway as we coast 
along the FDR drive 
he picks up speed   
we arrive in the congested 
city cars bumper
to bumper, a man’s job 
 is to provide and protect
to make sure no one harms 
his family that’s why 
I love your mother 
she knows 
when to step back
and let me be a man 

i am silent 
he wants to know why
i am distant
down the street
a young woman 
pushes a full cart
of groceries 
in the rain 
father, 
a man has loved me   

                                     he weeps 



Penda Mbaye Z. Smith is a Senegalese American writer, educator, and scholar whose work explores the role of pleasure in the search of and movement toward Black liberation. She has received support from the Watering Hole, Sun Valley Writers Conference, and Cave Canem fellowship. Her work has been featured in Huffington Post, Interim Poetics, Root Work Journal, and more. She teaches English at Louisiana State University. She enjoys napping. 

ISSN 2157-8079
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