Written by Dee Allen.
There have been times—
Musical, foot-stomping, joyous times—
At strobe-lit spaces
Goths and Rivetheads
Were known to congregate
When I was welcomed
And felt accepted
As one of their own.
At other times
At such spaces—
Times I wish
Were erased from my memory—
When I passed through
The dancing, undulating, spiked & pierced
Lot unnoticed,
Double black—
Black garments moving,
Covering Black skin,
Except for the face—
And a superpower
I never counted on having
Kicked in around the decorative, mostly
Pale elitist ones
Uniformed in the shade of midnight:
Invisibility.
First published in Blue Bottle Journal, November 23, 2022
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Dee Allen. is an African-Italian performance poet based in Oakland, California. Active on creative writing & Spoken Word since the early 1990s. Author of 10 books–Boneyard, Unwritten Law, Stormwater, Skeletal Black, Elohi Unitsi, Rusty Gallows: Passages Against Hate, Plans, Crimson Stain, his newest Discovery and coming in January 2025, The Mansion–and 77 anthology appearances under his figurative belt so far.