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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