The Seventh Son: After W. E. B. Du Bois

After Egypt, India, Greece, Rome, Teuton, Mongol,
there was the Negro, progeny with veil
and second sight, aware of others, yet
look at himself as someone would let
their lexicon of narrow living become his
dictate. Du Bois seeing double, his black lens
courted folks to image free thinkin’ selves.

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Acknowledgment: “The Seventh Son” appears courtesy of Backbone Press, first published in Tara Betts, 7 x 7: kwansabas (Durham: Backbone Press, 2015), 12.