{"id":6130,"date":"2026-08-22T08:49:04","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T08:49:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2026\/08\/22\/free-verse-poem-about-black-girlhood\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T08:49:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T08:49:15","slug":"free-verse-poem-about-black-girlhood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2026\/08\/22\/free-verse-poem-about-black-girlhood\/","title":{"rendered":"Free verse poem about Black girlhood"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"post-549030\">\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The Girl<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The colored girl<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The colored girl does not speak\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She is not spoken to<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Daisy dukes<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">short skirts<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Fast girl:<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cover yourself<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Girl<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Girl<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Girl<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Her body<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">does not belong to her<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lip\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-3    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Smart girl:<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So you think you\u2019re grown?<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lip\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Fast girl<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Girl<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-4    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Girl<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Girl<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u00a0The Woman<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\">\u00a0The woman\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\">\u00a0she grimaces\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-5    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\"> He enters her body\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\">he has made a home within her<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\">Coiled hair<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\">glistening skin<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\">he is on her<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-6    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\">inside of her\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\">under her flesh<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\">with his rib and cartilage he has remade her anew<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\">Her body<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\">her body, it burns<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\">Burns\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\">Touch me<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Don\u2019t<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\">Please<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Her (Man)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She likes the way her man holds her hand<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His hand, her hand\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Her man<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He speaks\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">in riddles and songs\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">he does not understand\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">her\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lip to cheek<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Palm to cheek\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Do you love me?<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The Child\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\">The child looks upon her<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\">her mother<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\">Girl\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\">Girl\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\">Girl<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\">always a girl<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\">What becomes of the colored<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\">Girl?<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Girl\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Girl\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\">Girl\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\">Maybe her mother<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\">is the sun<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\"><em>What if we played together<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\"><em>\u00a0as girls do<\/em> <\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\">child\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\">I wish to stay under her skin<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\">child\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\">Beneath rib<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\">child<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\">Beneath muscle\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\">child\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\">please do not abandon me.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>MiC Managing Editor Allana Smith can be reached at <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/michigan-in-color\/on-black-girlhood\/mailto:allanans@umich.edu\"><em>allanans@umich.edu<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em> <\/p>\n<aside>\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related articles<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- .entry-content --><\/p>\n<p>\t<!-- .entry-footer --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Girl The colored girl The colored girl does not speak\u00a0 She is not spoken to Daisy dukes short skirts Fast girl: Cover yourself Girl Girl Girl Her body does not belong to her Lip\u00a0 Smart girl: So you think you\u2019re grown? Lip\u00a0 Fast girl Girl Girl Girl \u00a0The Woman \u00a0The woman\u00a0 \u00a0she grimaces\u00a0 He [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6131,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[1071,412,5328,5327,5326],"class_list":["post-6130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-black","tag-free","tag-girlhood","tag-poem","tag-verse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6130"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6132,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6130\/revisions\/6132"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}