Poem For The Black Girls
by Katie Zofia

This is a poem that I wrote
for all the black girls
Because I want them to know
That someone acknowledges their struggle.
All the things you go through.
This is a poem for all the beautiful black girls
Who will never know that they’re beautiful.
This is my poem to the black girls,
The ones that braided my hair during PE class and
through passing periods
And were smoking hash
And the ones that ciphered with me at the Mission
When we all found out we could rap.
This is a poem for y’all
Because I know
I will never know
your pain.
This is a poem for the black girls
The ones with blonde weave
And pink weave
And weave that matches her Nikes,
Believing what she see on tv
Like “ride a dick like a bike”
See, I wrote this for the black girls
with hair pressed and relaxer
Naps flattened down their backs
Because they will never know
That back in Africa
they had that good hair.
This is a poem for the black girls who could hit double dutch
In elementary school better than any of us could,
And the girls’ whose dance stole the talent show in 8th grade,
This is for the black girl that wanted to beat my ass all sophomore year
And for the girl that did beat my ass on Fairview street,
Because I’m sorry.
Sorry that you have every reason to feel oppressed by my existence.
This is to all the beautiful black girls that will never know they’re beautiful.
And this is to the black girls who go numb everytime they hear a brotha say,
“I like light skinned girls with curly hair.”
Even though when brothers would talk to me, I thought,
“I must be pretty to be held to a black girl.”
This is a poem to the black girls who could sing
and had vocal chords that made you choke on yours like the lord has spoken, dawg.,
And the women that had so much natural rhythm
Like an ancient drum or heartbeat
Who used to hum songs outside my apartnment for BART fee.
And even the white man couldn’t kill your rhythm,
Because beats that slapped happened to evolve from African drums,
Sistas had so much rhuthm they made me go dumb!..
This is to the black girls that were rappin back when
it was about passion
And makin it happen,
Not just about slappin’.
And female emcees were like Queen Latifah like “U-N-I-T-Y, that’s-a-unity”
This is for the black girls who feel trapped
Lookin fine on the outside, sportin’ Maddens and fits from the Gap,
but going home to a battle ground that’s always under attack,
the ones that they called rats,
too pretty for the hood but she’ll never know that.
This is my poem for the beautiful black girls that will never know it
Because they’re caught in a system of off beat rhythm
and images imprisonment
livin on and giving in and innocent
And Willie Lynch
And slavery taken their ancient grace and bravery
QUEENS DOIN LABOR,
Black voices crying out, “We have been a misrepresented people…”
I hope that no one takes offense to this.
This is just my poem for the black girls,
A tribute, really
Because although it must be hard,
It must be pretty amazing to be you.
I never thought I would be as beautiful as you
Never thought I would have the rhythm
Never would be that powerful in all of my wishes,
And it hurts me when brothas call sistas bitches.
That’s why I wrote this for y’all
For the black girls.
The beautiful black girls
That wish their hair was different
or something else was different
This is my poem for them
All the beautiful, beautiful black girls
that will never know.


Commentary: *YO! I love this poem so much. ma gwrl katie got somethin herre.
an i wish i could find a gwrl who believes me when i say
shyt like this. where's my black stud out there waiting for me, huh? huh? *