My Hoops

They see my big earring hoops as a problem to solve 

Just as they see my hips as a mission to conquer 

My lips as a door to keep closed

Unless they benefit from the fruit of my conversation

And my experience is a fiction story to be told only when it helps their motive

I am choked by the reality of who I am 

Versus who their statistics say I am suppose to be

suffocated by the fact that i made it and other didn't

and strangled by their questions

Probing, 

Reaching, 

Grasping 

For the only things that were ever mine and mine only

Even my fondest memories have stains of oppression and trauma that feels beyond repair

So when I sit in spaces and am expected to protect white babies from others' truth

I’m stuck with the dilemma of whether or not I should care 

Especially when Black and Brown babies have never been treated fair 

So I sit in rooms wishing my  hoop earrings could block out the noise

My hoop earrings are more than an accessory or object or stereotype

My hoop earrings are my courage to fight a battle that’s been going on long before me

My hoops earrings are the only things that make me feel true to who I am

While I’m still figuring out who I’m meant to be