CXC Poetry: Dreaming Black Boy

Dreaming Black Boy

I wish my teacher’s eyes wouldn’t
go past me today. Wish he’d know
it’s okay to hug me when I kick
a goal. Wish I myself wouldn’t hold back when answer comes.
I’m no woodchopper now
like all ancestors.

I wish life wouldn’t spend me out
opposing. Wish same way creation
would have me stand it would have
me stretch, and hold high, my voice
Paul Robeson’s, my inside eye
a sun.Nobody wants to say
hello to nasty answers.

I wish torch throwers of night
would burn lights for decent times.
Wish plotters in pyjamas would pray
for themselves. Wish people wouldn’t
talk as if I dropped from Mars.

I wish only boys were scared
behind bravados, for i could suffer.
I could suffer a big big lot.
I wish nobody would want to earn
the terrible burden I can suffer.

By James Berry

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CXC POEM- Dreaming Black Boy An analysis