BLACK in EGYPT/CANADA
This Skin
by Mona Mousa
i spent years denying the Nile as home
years trying to wash the Egyptian out of my skin
trying to straighten the Nubian out of my tangled ancestry
leaving my forced Sudanese lineage
spread out like ash on these too hot sands
my mothers eyes said to me
let your skin be a demonstration
of the political statement that is our bloodline
when people ask me where i am from
i will say my mother
she is the first place i called home
i imagine she is what a wise woman once meant
when she said we have be raised to fear the yes in ourselves
Photo cred: Artist: Unknown. email clee@wusgood.black to contribute info
my mother brought life into a world she couldn’t understand
let two go before me
told me when i was barely old enough to understand
to never let them silence me
she said to see veins in my hand when write
is proof that our stories reside in my blood
she would always say that a miracle
is catching a breath after gunpoint
blessed are those who catch it
that she only prays my brother to be that lucky
i asked my mom if she prays for me too
and she says honey,
every day i meet god between fears and tears and the only prayers he answers
and the prayers about you.
I don’t have the heart to tell her
that my skin tone is a narrative i just cant understand
when i was younger i asked my mom if egyptian meant black
and all she said was baby girl
you are 2 shades of a sunrise
still when people would ask me where i am from
i learned to avoid the questions
that my skin was still an unanswered narrative
one day my mom said to me
you will wear the weight of your skin like armor
she told me that she was trying to find place for me to stretch my bones
to lengthen my smile and spread my hair
she wanted to remind me thought he world will try to dictate my worth
based on the black space that is my skin
she told me to never forget that my skin is the space in time where the Egyptian sun sleeps
and the moons tried to tell you its story
she said darling the Egyptian flag is black for strength, white for light and red to show you to see veins in your hand when you write is proof that this stories resides in your blood
Mona Mousa is a spoken word poet and motivational speaker living in Toronto Ontario.
Having toured actively her whole poetry career, this year alone Mona has booked over 200 shows all over North America.. When she is at home Mona is heavily active in all facets of her community having been the special events director of Winnipeg pride, and is the founder and director of Central Poetry, an organization that exists to help poets with the branding and marketing of their poetry careers as well as bringing the highest quality performance poets to Winnipeg Manitoba. Currently Mona is curating a festival for poets of colour called Meli-Nation, set to come to life in August of 2017.