Talk

I wanna talk about race

I wanna talk about race & the way

         that I felt when my 1^st cousins

         on my father’s side of the family

         use to blame me for growing up

         in the suburbs & telling me

         I sounded too white.

The way my cousins on my mother’s side of the family

         used to make fun of my voice

         because it was so high.

                  They said I sounded like Michael Jackson.

I wanna talk about race

I wanna talk about being black & being gay

         & the way that some black folks

                  Some out of work black folks

         Speak in ½ truths about each other

         dripped in ¼ truths about the bible

         & ¼ truths from a church

                  that doesn’t want anything to do with them.

I wanna talk about race

         & the way that I don’t know

         much about gospel singers.

I wanna talk about race

         & the way I had to learn

         the 4 riffs I know

         & would modulate them into any key.

I wanna talk about race

         & the way that I could modulate them into any other key

         because I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Music

                  when some others can’t even read it

         & my minor was in piano.

I wanna talk about race

         & the way that sometimes

         I feel so alone.

I wanna talk about race

         & the way that I can’t seem to get

         a black person to enter my home

         let alone invite me to brunch.

I wanna talk about race

         & the way I hate

         that I live with a cat.

I wanna talk about race

         & the way that Miss Dihann Carrol

         once told Aaron Spelling

         “What your show needs is a Black Bitch.

         I’d like to be that Black Bitch.”

         & thus Dominique Deveraux was born.

I wanna talk about race

         & the way that I like being black with a “C-K”

         & not a “Q-U-E”

                  Cuz those are fools who take it to church

while they sing love songs

                  to women they don’t wanna sleep with.

I wanna talk about race

         & how the only representation I see of myself

         on the screen

         on the stage

         tells me I have to be

         the clown, the drag queen, or the down-low thug

& I don’t like lace fronts

         or Timberlands

         And I just don’t do “Kinky Boots”

         So, what am I supposed to wear?

I wanna talk about race

         & how I swear I’m trying

         just as hard as I’m being tried.

If you promise you’ll meet me at the table

         I promise I’ll bring the champagne.

         Is the idea that we could all get along just too much to handle?

I wanna have a conversation about race

I wanna talk about race.  I wanna talk about race.