‘The Black boy’ — A poem about race and space in America

Julian Chieza
Sep 2, 2018 · 1 min read
Alice Kneel, Benjamin, 1976

A group of white men
look at me, strangely
From across the bar
As I sit
With my book
And Silence.
But I have never owned this space -
Nor have I owned others
(The way that they do)
To be brash
And loud
they dont see,
Is but a privilege
That was never mine,

By birthright:

Privilege.

Julian Chieza

Written by

Poet and Writer from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe now living in England. My work explores the relationship between memory, identity, race and class in white spaces

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