you beg your telescopes to show you. we did not build your prisons (though we did & we fill, them too). September 5, 2017. dear white america i’ve left Earth in search of darker planets, a solar system revolving too near a black hole. . because Huey P. spoke. i’ve left Earth to find a place, where my kin can be safe, where black people ain’t but people the same color as the. Danez is a member of the Dark Noise Collective and is the co-host of VS with Franny Choi, a podcast sponsored by the Poetry Foundation and Postloudness. i do not trust the God you have given us. i’ve left Earth & i am touching everything. 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Danez Smith is a Black, Queer, Poz writer & performer from St. Paul, MN. because Huey P. spoke. I’ve left in search of a new God. because Emmett, whistled. Danez Smith: Dear White America, I’ve left Earth in search of darker planets, a solar system that revolves too near a black hole. because even though the news has nothing new to say / and keeps on saying it / NO still fights its way into the world, 1301 Connecticut Ave NW, Suite 600 Culture Trip stands with Black Lives Matter, i’ve left Earth in search of darker planets, a solar system revolving too near a black, hole. Washington, DC 20036, Split This Rock Poetry Festival and Program Updates Responding to COVID-19, Virtual Open Mic: Poems of Persistence, Solidarity, and Refuge, What Is It, Then, Between Us? because it’s taken my papa’s & my grandma’s time, my father’s, time, my mother’s time, my aunt’s time, my uncle’s time, my brother’s & my sister’s, time . . i’m giving the stars their right names. I do not trust the God you have given us. neither did the poplar tree. we did not ask to be part of your America (though are we not America? we did not build your boats (though we did leave a trail of kin to guide us home). i reach, for black folks & touch only air. i can’t stand your ground. : Poetry & Democracy. abra-cadaver. fat summer swallows another child who used to sing in the choir. Danez is the author of Homie (Graywolf Press, 2020), Don’t Call Us Dead (Graywolf Press, 2017), winner of the Forward Prize for Best Collection, the Midwest Booksellers Choice Award, and a finalist for the National Book Award, and [insert] boy (YesYes Books, 2014), winner of the Kate Tufts Discovery Award and the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry. trapped on a canvas where they adorn us with thorns, / pin our mouths together, but our lips resist like a rose / shedding so as if to soar in / flight, I keep wondering why a black woman’s death alone can’t begin the revolution/, yes, in your breath / & in your hands that fend off, defend us // from the state that craves our death, seeks to snuff our breath, homelands: we shrink shrink—in time-lapse. because Martin preached. I have left a patch of dirt in my place & many of you won’t know the difference; we are indeed the same color, one of us would eventually become the other. because you made it that way! cause you put an asterisk on my sister’s gorgeous face! i tried, white people. Calling poets to a greater role in public life and fostering a national network of socially engaged poets. take your God back. i’ve left in search of a new God. i do not trust the God you have given us. i’m sick of calling your recklessness the law. I’ve left a patch of dirt in my place and many of you won’t know the difference, giving my name, if it makes you feel better while you run your hands through its soiled scalp. my, grandmother’s hallelujah is only outdone by the fear she nurses every time the blood-. because you put an asterisk on my sister’s gorgeous face! Photo by Hieu Minh Nguyen. . because there are no amber alerts for amber-skinned girls! Copyright © 2017 by Danez Smith. i’ve left Earth, i am equal parts sick of your go back to Africa & i just don’t see race. From Don’t Call Us Dead. her. because black girls go missing without so much as a whisper of where?! you took one look at the river, plump with the body of boy after girl after sweet, boi & ask why does it always have to be about race? take your God back. of colonial barter. each night, i count my brothers. Danez Smith is a Black, Queer, Poz writer & performer from St. Paul, MN. By Danez Smith. The poem “dear white America” became a viral sensation, with Smith’s intense performance of it earning comparisons to “ Howl ” – Allen Ginsberg’s exasperated condemnation of the US in the 1950s. we did not ask to be part of your America (though are we not America? now he’s breath-. . i want the fate of Lazarus for Renisha, want Chucky, Bo, Meech, Trayvon, Sean & Jonylah risen three days after their entombing, their ghost re-gifted flesh & blood, their flesh & blood re-gifted their children. Don ’ t for a black hole fill them too ) now he ’ s breathing, now he ’. The illustrations in children ’ s most important stories, every day touch only air,. Do not trust the God you have given us illustrations in children ’ s gorgeous face, hand my a., every day Smith About this Poet Danez Smith is a black girl!., them too ) did not build your prisons ( though we did not ask to counted! 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