Erica Dawson

I read somewhere there were just
about as many slaves as white
people in Florida. Like almost
a ratio of one to one

& when I tell someone, they say
why didn’t they rise up? & I
say who? they say the slaves & I
say who? they say the slaves, I say

the slaves? & they say yeah & it’s
this moment when I ask myself
whether it’s worth explaining how
strength isn’t really in numbers,

how calling somebody a buck
doesn’t mean he has extra bone
& I decide today I’m tired
of explicating, that it’s not

a poem & if it were I’d write
when broken, antlers bleed profusely,
in the white moonlight blood looks black
& they’d read it, say huh, & turn the page

Erica Dawson is a neurodivergent Black poet living in the Baltimore-DC area. She is the author of three books of poetry, most recently, When Rap Spoke Straight to God (Tin House, 2018). Her poems have appeared in Blackbird, Revel, The Believer, Virginia Quarterly Review, and other journals and anthologies.