indeed.
the irony is plentiful.
i am constantly reminded of racial boundaries
by those who enforce/practice them,
knowingly or otherwise.

i just don't draw those lines nor abide by them.
call me a Negrological Honkeyologyst.

--
'SHARKS DON'T SLEEP' a collection of poems by Eric Hamilton.

I like the way you mention how people "enforce" racialized thinking, even unknowingly. I had an entire college course dedicated to showing people how we do this, and maybe half the class managed to understand it, privileged lazy upper-class jerks. I'm always taken aback at how insightful you are, the updates i got from Dad over the years don't seem to have reflected how bright you are.

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Get it while it's hot! Poetry fresh of the presses! :thumb69775965: Glad to chat poetry or exchange comments anytime

Your brother is funny.

You should title this poem, "Negrological Honkeyologist."


Anyway - I like the suggestion that people want to display their forward thinking and or acceptance. This transcends race based stuff to people who want to make it clear how generous they are by making it known they aren't available at X time to hang out with their friends because they are out on some canned food drive for the homeless or whatnot.

I find it interesting because such people are normally *decent people* at the core. Somehow, though, they aren't convinced of their own decency! It is like they need validation in other people's eyes to make their decency real or meaningful. I think a lot of people will assume such people are automatically racists or actually backward thinkers when I think that such people are often just insecure, immature, etc.

I like the lines indicating that these scenarios are hypothetical ones that you created in your own mind.

"I always fancied" and "I would" and other phrases like this will make some readers wonder, "Well, did he ever date a black girl? Is this poem coming from that experience when he realized that race realities aren't so simple? Is this a retrospective reflection on that naive perspective?"

Anyway...I like this one.

-E

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Will critique for food.

word, word.

--
'SHARKS DON'T SLEEP' a collection of poems by Eric Hamilton.

I must agree, the irony is lovely. =]

--
G-d is like a casino. The house always wins.