Black Girl, White Girl by Kojo Laing

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Ampa I used to walk through the streets

with a black girl and a white girl

and they both looked exactly alike:

high cheekbones, slimmish, good hair, calm,

and with a fine sense of history.

I used to walk through the streets ampa

with a white girl and a black girl,

exactly alike they both looked:

calm, slimmish, good hair, high cheekbones,

and with a fine sense of history.

Slimmish, high cheekbones, good hair, calm,

a black girl and a white girl

who both looked exactly alike,

used to walk ampa through the streets with me,

with my terrible sense of history.

Me in the high streets, my cheek with bruised bones,

me looking exactly like my history,

slim enough to push eternity forward, calm

with vaseline in my hair, good for all colours.

They ask: Why did you walk through the streets

with a black girl and a white girl,

both looking exactly alike,

good hair, calm, slimmish, high cheekbones?

I said: Check your history!

Check the omelettes, the light-soup, the mixed grill,

the ampesi,

Check the high cheekbones,

the slimmish, the good, the hair, the calm.

Check possibly love, Love!