She does not step forward.
Still black woman
comes at a price.
A thousand faint champions
launch icon campaign,
smothering some day,
however close,
with dimwitted mythology.
Tell the world,
tell your defenders,
milk the blogs,
support the dissertations.
The passionate something must be ignored.
Cranky anonymous
boycotts denials and
wraps her attacks
in her own defence.
In a cocoon of reason,
she skips over
the protective border
and is met by the pedigree,
who do for her
what she has pointedly tried
to do for herself,
in a place
that does not exist.