black excellence
is incomplete without black beauty.

with our kinks, curls
naps and whorls
in our natural diadems
we are versatile and flexible.

in our blue-blacks
our umbers
our tawnys
our honeys
we catch the sun
and mirror her light in our smiles.

dime-wide
penny-wide
quarter-wide nostrils breathe in
and breathe out
into our lungs
into our bodies
and keep us moving,
moving harder than everyone else.

lover, fighter
skinny, fat
tall, short
gay, straight
man, woman
in between or neither at all

our beauty is in our hair
our skin, our noses
our bodies, our souls
our beauty rests in our bones.

our excellence
is incomplete without our beauty.

black excellence
is incomplete without black intellect.

authors and poets
painters and sculptors
lost to history
hidden behind the fair

we turn our anguish
into stanzas
into verses
into works of art
with glaring themes
that only we seem to understand

our musical intellect
has captured audiences
occupied homes
conquered countries
with our horns and drums
our rhythm and blues
our beats and trap
lyrics to feed heavy spirits

our literary intellect
remains under appreciated
but is just as alluring
just as challenging as any other,
fueling our brains
charging our consciousness

strokes of our pens
are strokes of our souls
and strokes of our psyches
insight of our beautiful minds

our excellence
is incomplete without our intellect.