Hi, APC! My name is Krsna Garr, I’m currently a 17-year-old who lives in Nashville, Tennessee. I’m Black, Puerto Rican, and Italian and I take pride in all my ethnic diversities. This spoken-word piece was inspired by Black History Month and the beauty of melanin. It was written for the Black History Showcase presented by Southern Word in downtown Nashville. I hope that this poem really sinks in and allows others to feel confident and powerful in regard to their history and the pigment of their skin.
Her Melanin
So pure and elegant
Yet envied so hated
Whipped and controlled
Because her beauty
They could not translate it
…
Smooth brown skin
Sun-kissed
No…
Sun-soaked
She bathed in the light
Because the pigment of her skin
Gives her life
…
Purpose
Her knowledge necessary
Her body conserved to be respected
In the mind rests the sanctuary
Her thoughts untouched and clean
She aspires resurrection
From this conscious being
Her melanin
So pure and elegant
Yet starved and isolated
Whipped and controlled
Because her beauty
They could not translate it
…
Her melanin
Derived from the great lakes of Southern Africa
And Egypt
Kem regions
Coal coated
Thus black
With thick lips and broad noses
Spiritually attuned like Moses
Associated with the night
Afterlife, rebirth, and fertility
Black skin with gold accents representing their divinity
Her melanin
Stripped from her culture
Beaten and tortured
Burned and disseminated across borders
Legs spread and sold by the ignorant white man’s orders
…
Her melanin covered in aches and pains
She’s used as strengths and gains
Her past empowered her
In the same way
The blood runs through her veins
Veins that ran through her
Like the underground railroad
Ran through the soil
And across oceans by the boatload
Her Melanin
So pure and elegant
Yet envied so hated
Her innocence they confiscated
Because her beauty
They could not translate it
…
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I love this poem, these lines are truly beautiful;
“ Veins that ran through her
Like the underground railroad
Ran through the soil
And across oceans by the boatload”