The Shadow Knows

From day one, we aspire
to be more than the average

Negro. None of that yassah
boss & watermelon rind

smile for us. We want quail
cooked in butter. We want

gold where that gap tooth
should be. Clarity for Negro

caricature. We want high-
styling clothing, gold rings

on our fingers like Greek
architecture & gold pocket

watches in our vest coats. More
women than coats. White women

all up in our architecture.
We want peculiar & instinctual

satisfactions. We want to be
prizefighting's main attraction:

the Heavyweight Champion
of the world. When we rise up

the whole Negro race rises up
with us. When we get to the top,

it's just us. No use for Negroes
then, not even ourselves.




From The Big Smoke (Penguin, 2013). All rights reserved. Reprinted with the permission of the author.