If you opened your ears you would hear our song on the wind that moves your world
Double Vision
I’m not going to give too much of a written introduction to this one because, surprise surprise, I’m including a video of myself performing it! I give a little intro in the recording so be sure to watch (and like and comment if you feel that way inclined). I wrote Double Vision for a Black History Month event at my university in 2019. You’ll be able to hear how awfully nervous I was but I hope the message still gets through. A lot has changed since 2019 but unfortunately, a lot has stayed the same, so I think this poem is as applicable now as it was back then.
If somebody told me - “You’re just too good to be true” I wouldn’t necessarily assume it was a compliment Some struggle to reconcile the darkness of my skin with the light of curiosity in my eyes. Some struggle to understand how the rhythm of my grandmother’s pidgin became the melody in my oratory Some struggle to see our existence through the fiction mainstream feeds them. History finds us distasteful and still we are swallowed by the gluttony of prejudice- Maybe this is why they boast that they don’t see colour. They can take their eyes off of me, they do so gladly because it’s easier to shut your eyes than to resolve the double vision of textbook vs truth. We are not too good to be true. We should not be reduced because we are taller than someone’s tale. We will not be fictionalised. If you opened your ears you would hear our song on the wind that moves your world It sounds like bittersweet and reggae beat and drums that talk of our story If you opened your heart you would grasp the forbidden love between “black” and “excellence” a fruitful love, that shines amidst disbelief and dismissal. If you opened your eyes you would read us between the lines of your past- we are there in every shape and form, we have always been there. That’s all black history really is: history that has received the gift of sight.
stay curious and well read
The World in Verse 