For The White Person Who Wants To Know How To Be My Friend

For the white person who wants to know how to be my friend

by Pat Parker

The first thing you do is to forget that i’m Black.

Second, you must never forget that i’m Black.

You should be able to dig Aretha,

but don’t play her every time i come over.

And if you decide to play Beethoven – don’t tell me

his life story. They made us take music appreciation too.

Eat soul food if you like it,

but don’t expect me to locate your restaurants

or cook it for you.

And if some Black person insults you,

mugs you, rapes your sister, rapes you,

rips your house, or is just being an ass –

please, do not apologize to me

for wanting to do them bodily harm.

It makes me wonder if you’re foolish.

And even if you really believe Blacks are better lovers than

whites – don’t tell me. I start thinking of charging stud fees.

In other words – if you really want to be my friend – don’t

make a labor of it. I’m lazy.

Remember. 🤨🤨🖤🖤

For the entire month of April aka Black Women’s Poetry and Prose month. I’m sharing the work of women who have healed my heart, nurtured my mind and fed my spirit with their words. I have to admit that even as a voracious reader it took me a minute to understand and feel the purpose and passion of poetry. Often I found it confusing and underwhelming. I wanted characters, story, plot, but then I dug deeper and read more and more, I learned to treasure it for the art that it is, poetry is a moment in time, it’s a feeling, a mood, it’s deep, it’s playful, it’s memoir and commentary, it’s so many things at once, it’s patois, creole, slang, it’s protest, its prayer, it’s soul, it is NOT a luxury, there are no rules, it’s an excellent vehicle of expressing a singular idea, a method for causing controversy and tectonic shifts, it’s slick talking goodness and Black women reign supreme.

More to come…….