Our new series of poetry excerpts continues with a poem by Morgan Parker from her new book, Magical Negro. Parker’s previous book of poems, There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé, ends with the unpunctuated line “Why do you get up in the morning”—and Magical Negro offers playful and powerful answers. This ekphrastic piece follows conceptual artist Adrian Piper, whose “Everything” series pivoted from the poem’s enigmatic title. “Here are some ways in which,” Parker writes, “you are not free.” Her truncated lines often drift into our chests: we’ve been spoken to, and we want to hear more.
“Everything Will Be Taken Away
after Adrian Piper“
You can’t stop mourning
everything all the time.
The ’90s, the black Maxima with a tail,
CD wrappers, proximity to the earth.
Glamour and sweating in your sheets.
Speaking tongues. Men, even.
You are a woman now
but you have always had skin.
Here are some ways in which
you are not free: the interiors
are all wrong, you are a drought
sprawling. When you see god
you don’t like what you see.
It is never enough to be born
again and again.
You like it at church when
strangers hold your hand.
You have a mouth men bless.
You look good enough to bury.
From Magical Negro. Reprinted with permission of Tin House Books. Copyright © 2019 by Morgan Parker.
