LOVE, FORETOLD IN BLACK AND BOLD

by Phillip M. Campbell

BLACK LOVE IS LIKE

black streets:

overpoliced,

like Black people by white sheets

A Black man can’t love a Black woman

A Black woman can’t love a Black woman

A Black woman can’t love a Black man

A Black man can’t love a Black man

A Black person can’t love a Black person

A Black person cannot love their people

A Black person can’t love themself

A Black person can love no-one else

Policed at traffic stops

On Twitter

On film

and on paper

By plantations

and corporations

By courts

and debating

By Black

and Hispanic

By white

and by Asian

By Mother

By Father

         By Sister

         and Brother

 

Policed for profit

and power

 

Black lipstick, Black kisses

Black cats in black berets

Black children with black names

Black beads in black hair

big baths and self-care

Black music, Black Mother

Black laughter and Black lovers

Black babies in black sheets

Black smiles and white teeth

 

Black love is overpoliced

Cause Black love is revolutionary.

PHILLIP M. CAMPBELL is an intermedia artist from the Bronx finding the intersection between poetry and photography. Using his pieces to arouse critical thought on subjects from race and class to mental health and depression, there’s no right way to interpret his work. In 2020, he published a book of poetry, Words on a Map, and a short film called Pocket Poets. He is a founder and director of New York’s PaperCut Collective, which aims to help artists who cannot make the difficult choices all too common in a sector full of privilege.

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