Too Black/Not Black Enough

The Black Maria
Ave Maria
Black Dahlia
The Big Black Box
Big Black Cock
only white girls say cock, Becky.
Black Friday
Black Panthers
Orange is the New Black
but don’t even get me started on the color orange
unless we’re discussing Frank Ocean and then I’m all for it.

A black cat crosses your path
I’ve loved two black cats,
one disappeared.
Black Beatles
Murder, murder—black convertibles, ah
I bet you only know the Nicky verse, Becky.
Black and yellow
Black and yellow
Black and Tan—an acquired taste.
A story written in black and white
Black bear, black bear, what do you see?
53% of voters looking back at me.
Black-eyed Susan has no eyes
but she does enjoy listening to the Black-Eyes Peas.
Black face masks all the rage.
They strip your pores, cleanse you,
pull a skin off of your skin,
removes the blackness from your face,
removes the blackness
but I see a spot or two left in the cracks.
they say rinse with cold water.
Black garlic
as seen on Bob’s Burgers. The gospel music of seasoning.
Black History Month—
a black hole in the space we are meant to occupy,
to celebrate, to educate
to block off
reserved for our blackness.

Black Mirror—now that will fux with your mind
unlike the Black Keys
Black Lives ___________
fill in the blank because I can’t give you all the answers.
I’m googling half of them myself.
Black Sabbath—
do they observe the Sabbath day?
My mother’s is Saturday.
Black ops
Black quinceañera dresses
a party, a funeral, a moment in time that seems so important
so rare, like a black swan
but I’ve seen one, I know I have.
I had to watch the movie three times to figure it out.
There is a black widow sitting on the sill
Black Mother
Black boy
Black body
someone orders a white tea,
asks if that’s a real thing
I say yes, it’s real
but the leaves were plucked too soon.

By Nicole Lourette

Biography:

Nicole Lourette is a poet and event planner from Rochester, NY. She now lives in Pittsburgh, PA after graduating with her MFA from Chatham University with concentrations in poetry and travel writing. She travels both for work and her own sanity as often as possible and hates peanut butter. She is an editor for Pittsburgh Poetry Review, and her work has been featured in IDK Magazine, Public Pool, Vagabond City Journal, and elsewhere.