A time never mine

Sanaa Mirz, United States

A time never mine
My head bobs,
Nodding along to the beat,
Reminding of a time I’ve only heard of in history books,
Watching movies all to know more
About this time I know I belong to
This time of proud ‘fros, dashikis,
Black turtlenecks and berets,
This time of Black Panthers and Pride.
Bobbing my head along as if I had been there
This time I paint in excitement and pride
Sometimes forgetting the swing of Southern fruit in trees
All because of what they left out in history books
This time I’ve seemed to left part of myself in
This time of ‘fros, pride and protest,
Of heroes and revolutionaries I’ve never met
Filling up this void with their words and rhymes
Standing with one foot here
And the other there
Uncertain who I am
This woman wishing for the bravery of time
That was never hers
Searching for this piece of myself
I left in a time never mine.

Sanaa Mirz is a queer black Muslim woman and emerging poet/writer. She began writing as a form of therapy for the oppression and isolation she faced in her life due to other's perceptions of her identity. She now writes in order to create the representation she lacked growing up in order to show others like her it is possible to live and thrive as you are.