The Vanderbilt Project on Unity & American Democracy\u2019s 2023 Poetry Contest<\/p>\n
Second Place<\/p>\n
By TaKya Hughes, East Tennessee State University<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Her eyelids were a lovely yellow-green,
\nand her lips a perfectly puckered nude<\/p>\n
when Lizzo carefully lifted President Madison\u2019s flute,
\nand changed America\u2019s mood\u2014<\/p>\n
She dazzled me, at home, in her dazzling leotard,
\nthe sequins gleaming seamlessly under the relentless bombard<\/p>\n
of the relentlessly bright lights aimed directly at the stage\u2014all the cameras in DC,
\nthe entire world\u2019s stage had the pleasure of watching<\/p>\n
She, both black and a woman, playing the state\u2019s crystal flute,
\nwhich was owned by a man who owned countless slaves that were never en route<\/p>\n
to freedom from ownership or Canadian skies or bottomless oceans
\nthat protected the cries of thousands of others like them ready to seize<\/p>\n
freedom by the horns in the only way that would ease their dignity and pride
\nunder the threat of slavery and subjugation, choosing their dangerous sort of bravery<\/p>\n
instead of the cruelty of the freedom nation. Lizzo\u2019s eyelids
\nwere a lovely yellow-green, and her lips a perfectly puckered nude<\/p>\n
when she carefully lifted a founding father\u2019s flute
\nand changed America\u2019s mood\u2014<\/p>\n
For better or worse, I didn\u2019t really care. I was just happy to watch her play it,
\nher fingers fluttering delicately across precious crystal glassware.<\/p>\n
She was stunning, a personified statement about the injustices we\u2019ve overcome,
\nbut I couldn\u2019t deny for a second that I enjoyed this part of the battle won<\/p>\n
With James Madison rolling in his grave at a black woman with the audacity
\nto take his old crystal flute and play it, with her freedom-found tenacity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Vanderbilt Project on Unity & American Democracy\u2019s 2023 Poetry Contest Second Place By TaKya Hughes, East Tennessee State University Her eyelids were a lovely yellow-green, and her lips a perfectly puckered nude when Lizzo carefully lifted President Madison\u2019s flute, and changed America\u2019s mood\u2014 She dazzled me, at home, in her dazzling leotard, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2272,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[78],"tags":[25],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Jypy-4PR","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18591"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2272"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18591"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18595,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18591\/revisions\/18595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}