black joy
joy is the will
is the dimple that has endured
a dance so deep in a dark cheek
a wound without a scar
without a trace
the humour of hurt
is the hell of being healed
joy daps death
lives in the grin
singing from the blood
bathes in a smirk
testifies tenderness in a tear
it is a smile silhouetted against the face witnessing the want
the flower in the grenade
a rose in the concrete
a pirouette beside a barricade
is the butterfly in the battlefield
is disarming
the swing set in the middle of a gunfight
is dodging a bullet
hopscotch and double dutch
a fierce gaze, the side eye, the shade
the sass, the snap, the head nod
is the turn up, the swag
joy is righteous and ratchet
joy twerks and taps, jooks and jives harlem shakes, electric slides, dutty wines salsas on twos and rumbas
joy is rhythm and repetition
rhythm and repetition
hums in harmony
is the blues
is a song in a cotton field
or central bookings
on a crowded subway
joy is a song anywhere
joy bes in the trap
is a dilla beat in the middle east
is fly
is finger-licking good
is pasteles with black beans
or a patty and coco bread
is fried chicken
with bbq sauce
or buffalo sauce
or hot sauce
or any damn sauce
joy
is a recipe passed on
a language that survives
savoury and sweet

toe curling
knocking boots
the fight and the fury
is making love to make up
is the glow
is an entire day in a lover’s arms,
a carton of ice cream and a bed of books
is illuminated in the aftermath
is wrinkled lips, a pouted kiss, the shivering hips
the theater of our thunder
joy
joy is a story traveling
a rocking chair on the front lawn
a wind chime in a window
is a barbeque in the backyard
subwoofers in a hoopty
melanin gathered in a room
is the entourage
is getting your friends in the club
joy
joy is all about vibes
is a roof over your head
is clothes on your back
is free 99
is having the rent when its due
or having no rent at all
is no debt or no credit check
joy is shooting dice in a stairway
it’s getting a hand in spades
or a double six capicu in dominoes
is hoops in a crate
is opening a fire hydrant in the heat
joy
is a six-block willy through traffic with no handlebars in the rain
is the catwalk
is the voguing
is the coming out
is the crackhead with a dime bag and a dream
is a fresh pair of white kicks with the check
is bottle caps glued beneath dress shoes
is three dollars in the tank
is catching rain water in a tin cup
a firefly in your palm
buying sunflowers for yourself on a cloudy day
is a moon in the sky as if in a school play
is your father in the audience
joy is skipping school or recess
is a screen without static aluminium foil antenna
is when the belt buckle snaps or the switch breaks or your mom gets too damn tired joy
is waving down the ice cream truck
a fresh line up and a clean doobie

the perfect coil to a curl or a loosened nap and an afro pick is the gift of gab
is rapping yo ass off
is roasting or wrestling a sibling to tap out
joy
is yo mama jokes until it’s yo mama
is the first foot out the jail, the homecoming, the graduation
the step show at the probate
joy x 3
is hugging the self, what conquers the heart and captures the blame
is the madness of our meaning
is the maturity of our memory
is the irony of our forgetting
is a helicopter four days after the hurricane on a roof with no water or food is a mother picking her daughter up from foster care
is smoking a joint and a cop car switching lanes
is food stamps on the first of the month
is no snitching
no snitching
is loyalty, perseverance, protest, resilience, resistance
is the food after the funeral or the parade
the blessing and the curse
the call, the response
the prayer, the pulpit
is evidence of things unseen
is the hallelujah, the amen, the holy ghost
is speaking in tongues
is when the santo say you don't need no cleaning
is genetic heirloom
is the portable promised land
it is the diaspora x 3
making it overseas or making it over the mason-dixon line
joy
joy is family
is brotherhood
is sisterhood
is feeling another’s dimple in your face
is together
joy is together
it's together unified on the frontlines
our joy
our joy will astonish the world
because joy
true joy
has always been
and will always be
justice