Venice masks

Saturday 25 June 2022

Police Report - Alzira Rufino

The black woman is not stopped
by this brutish thing
by this lukewarm discrimination
your strength is a secret
show your speech through your pores
your scream will echo in the city
they weed your dignity
as poisonous weeds
they hurt you with arrows commended
they experiment on you
your négritude – Blackness –
disturbs,
your whirlpool of forces drowns all around it
they don’t want your presence
they cross your name with absence
come, black woman,
be, black woman,
see, black woman –
after the storm

Alzira Rufino (born 1949) Brazil
Translated by Zocalo Poets
Source: Zocalo Poets

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