Wet nurse

 

Wet nurse 

I’m a wet nurse 

I was forced to feed a white baby 

While my chile was abducted 

My massa fed it to that gators 

He made me watch 

How this ugly creature crushed those 

Little bones 

Cos I refused to feed his chile…

I cried 

I quivered in fear…

His wife watched me 

Like a hawk…

Tears streamin down my cheeks 

They dehumanize me 

So I raised their white chile…

I don’t know what motherhood looks like 

My massa took that away….

Now their baby bonded with me 

and the mistress got mad at me 

Cos her chile chose me instead..

She grabbed a whip, 

and tore my brown skin up…

I took care of her kid properly 

And she got angry….

I was exploited 

Not only that 

Her husband raped me…,

Just to keep the labor goin in the 

South….

I miss my own baby

I can’t get this gator out of my head 

How its consumed my little one…

I saw drips of blood roamin among 

The water….

I can’t say no

To wet nursin…

Or I will die….

I stayed in the house 

Or a cabin….

I was called mammy….

I breastfed many white babies

Across the plantation….

I was too scared 

To run away,

I gave a long hesitation 

To go inside that baby room

Sometimes 

A mistress brought her chile 

To me….

My nipples hurt,

They won’t rest 

Even massa forced me 

To give him some milk….

I was too sad 

I sobbed til I ran out of noise…

My madness grew wrinkles 

On my face…

I have believed 

I’m not a human….

Not a woman

Just breastfeedin machine….

I’m a wet nurse 

I feed my massa’s babies 

Not my own 

They went to the gators….

My mama instincts had been damaged 

For so long I don’t know how to 

Be in a protective mode….

Again 

My massa took all of that away…

Am I supposed to love 

A white chile?

Am I supposed to be like 

His mama?

Though I’m not…..

Mistress doesn’t care 

About her baby….

She worried about 

Her husband runnin 

Around with other enslaved women…

Tryin to keep her figure 

However 

She’s got pissed 

Off cos I stole her chile 

Yet she forced me to 

Breastfeed her baby….

She slapped me 

Cos i said no….

It was her idea 

To snatch my baby 

Away to the gators 

That swam in the swamps…

She didn’t apologize…..

A wet nurse 

Has no say 

No peace

No justice 

Just trauma 

I was forced 

To watch my chile 

Get eaten by gators 

Get chewed….

The last cry I heard 

From my sweet chile 

Killed my soul….

I had no smile 

No light 

Cos 

I refuse to be a 

Wet nurse….

This mistress told me 

To get over it 

To smile 

To laugh 

I never did

I was forced to fake 

And act like nothing happened 

She says,

“Good girl, 

Now feed my child.

I have to watch my body.

and don’t say no anymore 

Or you will be a next meal to the 

Gators!

😢💔✊🏿💯©️ Kai C. 7-5-26

Love poems to a white boy from a black girl

 Love poems to a white boy from a black girl

Imagine durin Jim Crow 

You wrote a book full of love poems 

Handwritten neatly….

you wrote them to a white boy

You fell in love with…

Somehow you left them at his doorstep 

He got them, told his mom

And his mom told his dad 

His dad got pissed 

He called his boys to get their rifles

and a rope…

He said, “find that nigger, and a tree.”

They found your address 

Snatch you up 

Go into the woods 

At a dark alley…

You saw the boy

That white boy with a smirk

He laughed 

He laughed at your poems

Mockin at your romantic soul….

Like your feelings are nothin but 

A standup comedy….

He volunteered to tie a rope 

Around your neck 

And choke you 

His dad encouraged him to 

Give you bloody eyes 

Slice your bodies into souvenirs 

Photographs your heartbreak into 

Passin along postcards….

They ate your right fingers 

Gnaw down your toes 

Then they burned all your passionate 

Poetry into ashes…

Cos you have a big crush on a white boy

Who is a piece of shit….

Who is actually jealous of black people….

Who was taught bigotry and racism at home 

Sayin black people ain’t humans….

Now do you remember 

Or know the story of a black boy 

Wrote a love letter to a white girl?

And she told her father

And her father and his buddies 

Grabbed that black boy 

And his dad

Went to the woods 

By a tree 

I think…

They beat him in front of his dad 

They might have shot him…

Cos he was in love with a white girl….

I wondered about this story 

This mornin while eatin breakfast….

I also wondered how many black writers 

Who fell in love with white folks  

Who wrote them romantic notes on the side 

And left them at their mailbox as secret admirers 

And figured out who they came from…

At the time it was segregated….

We don’t know these types 

Of stories about black people 

Writin love letters to white folks

And got slaughtered….

Possibly it does exist, just like that

Black boy…

A black girl with love poems to a 

White boy is a make believe scenario 

Cos these tragedies happened 

In real life….

We don’t learn about them….

I’m sure 

These sad tales happened 

In Jim Crow

In segregation 

In after slavery 

If a white girl wrote love notes 

To a black boy she loves

She never passed away

Her parents would be upset 

However 

Her father and his buddies 

Went to his house 

And shot him in front of his parents…

He didn’t do anythin…

He didn’t make her write love notes…

Was it intentional?

Could be?

She might use her famous white tears

Somehow 

They can get away with it 

Like that white boy 

He can get away with it…

But life has its own consequences 

That follow their footsteps….

They will never see

They will never expect 

There were no laws in place 

Where black people can’t write poems 

Or letters to white folks durin Jim Crow…

If there were, I wouldn’t be surprised….

After all, 

It wasn’t that long ago,

That slaves were not allowed to read a

Book…

✊🏿💯©️Kai C. 7-3-26