10 things they never tell you about the drug dealer's daughter
1. She loves greek mythology
And by the time she learns
To love anything more than herself
It is long dead
2. She is nine when she realizes
She's got the blessing of being brought up by a contemporary concept
She's the first on her block
To get a stay at home dad
He plays Barbies
And dominoes
And he cooks y'all
We got enough baking soda in my basement
To open 10 bakeries
My daddy is a baker
The cakes they fell so fast you never see them
Just the customers
Looking some kind of hungry
Like they got a sweet tooth
Only my daddy can yank
And I swear yo
We gonna be rich
3. None of her friends believe her
Until they all turn training bra
And things start disappearing and reappearing
In her house
First Tanya's television set
Her older brother's attention
Then Danielle's four finger ring
And her father's retirement fund
Finally
Danielle's whole mother
4. A girl and her father and their family
Disappear into a new neighborhood
The drug dealer, the father
He never misses a play
A pageant
A slam
And they ain't rich
But they no projects no more either
5. By the time I realize what we are
It's already too late
We are an urban novel
You will skim over at Walmart
A four minute smart on FOX 8's face
We work hard
And Spike Lee
And Quentin Tarantino
Made a film under Eazy E's direction
The question black America asks itself every sunday
I am a bakery
With nothing sweet left in it
6. My father is cute
My father is shot
Point-blank range to the back of the left ear
One night
But you probably knew this was going to happen
Staying it out loud makes me feel better
Makes this more real
Less magic makes this poem more
10 things you didn't know about
Sierra Freeman
Less 10 things about a cliche
That you click your fucking teeth at
7. Some nights I put on my father's chalk outline
And I teach it how to walk
My face is a haunted house
My mother screams at
From habit not fear
Most days i am an ally
That no one will enter alone
8. He is found
With no jewelry
Just his pocket watch
My baby tooth is snuggled inside
After his autopsy it is returned to be checked
9. I disappear into my own neighborhood
The suburbs
I got an itch the suburbs just ain't got nails for
I find Danielle
She asked me if i inherited any of my daddy's magic
I shake my head
She abracadabra something in her arms
And says
You know the drug deal is supposed to die, right?
10. I know the stories
How magic can turn black men into myths
That the hood will turn a black man into a monster
And that zeus made an exit wound
Big enough for his daughter to walk out of
Fully armored
And athena
Like most goddesses
Never learned to love anything
More than herself
1. She loves greek mythology
And by the time she learns
To love anything more than herself
It is long dead
2. She is nine when she realizes
She's got the blessing of being brought up by a contemporary concept
She's the first on her block
To get a stay at home dad
He plays Barbies
And dominoes
And he cooks y'all
We got enough baking soda in my basement
To open 10 bakeries
My daddy is a baker
The cakes they fell so fast you never see them
Just the customers
Looking some kind of hungry
Like they got a sweet tooth
Only my daddy can yank
And I swear yo
We gonna be rich
3. None of her friends believe her
Until they all turn training bra
And things start disappearing and reappearing
In her house
First Tanya's television set
Her older brother's attention
Then Danielle's four finger ring
And her father's retirement fund
Finally
Danielle's whole mother
4. A girl and her father and their family
Disappear into a new neighborhood
The drug dealer, the father
He never misses a play
A pageant
A slam
And they ain't rich
But they no projects no more either
5. By the time I realize what we are
It's already too late
We are an urban novel
You will skim over at Walmart
A four minute smart on FOX 8's face
We work hard
And Spike Lee
And Quentin Tarantino
Made a film under Eazy E's direction
The question black America asks itself every sunday
I am a bakery
With nothing sweet left in it
6. My father is cute
My father is shot
Point-blank range to the back of the left ear
One night
But you probably knew this was going to happen
Staying it out loud makes me feel better
Makes this more real
Less magic makes this poem more
10 things you didn't know about
Sierra Freeman
Less 10 things about a cliche
That you click your fucking teeth at
7. Some nights I put on my father's chalk outline
And I teach it how to walk
My face is a haunted house
My mother screams at
From habit not fear
Most days i am an ally
That no one will enter alone
8. He is found
With no jewelry
Just his pocket watch
My baby tooth is snuggled inside
After his autopsy it is returned to be checked
9. I disappear into my own neighborhood
The suburbs
I got an itch the suburbs just ain't got nails for
I find Danielle
She asked me if i inherited any of my daddy's magic
I shake my head
She abracadabra something in her arms
And says
You know the drug deal is supposed to die, right?
10. I know the stories
How magic can turn black men into myths
That the hood will turn a black man into a monster
And that zeus made an exit wound
Big enough for his daughter to walk out of
Fully armored
And athena
Like most goddesses
Never learned to love anything
More than herself
Beautiful. Powerful. You took my breath away.
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