TEETH
Written by Chelsea Williams Performed by Bisserat Tseggai
My last will is to be launched into space. Fuck what happens after. If life is just a maze of survivals and white folks hiding in the bushes, then let us both sit on the crown of the universe. Because our people have curiosity etched into our hands. And sometimes soft dough and a buttered bite are better than an empty and a beautiful stomach.
The Black people are praying again outside of the church, anointing our temples and chopping roots. I know nothing except what words have taught me. I am nothing except what words have taught me is true. I am nothing except the warmth my mom stowed underneath my pillow. I boiled corn, chopped the greens, fried catfish. Won’ t you join me?
All this joy won’ t drink itself. All this joy won’ t drink itself,
and me and all the colored people have sunshine stowed in our pockets. You still would like to know what the first steps off the plantation felt like?
Have you ever been ripped by grief and then with torn and steady hands built yourself a house? Have you ever lived your whole life in a house and then the rain came and it was like recognizing a family member for the first time?
This life smiles at everything it swallows. And there is a reason why Black people show all our teeth when we laugh.