DON'T THANK ME, I'VE DONE NOTHING FOR YOU

Thank you for calling. 
                            How may I help you?             
                                                      Can you repeat that?
                                                                                                                              Hold on.                                                                                       
Let me transfer you.
                           Is there an item you're looking for?
                                                      Do you have the DPCI number?                   
We're out of stock
                                    and we don't know
                                                                                 when we'll receive                 
                                                                                                                     our next shipment.                     
There's none                                                                                                               in the back.                           
I checked myself.                                
                                    Sure,
                                    you can speak to the manager.                                 Hold on.
         You're welcome.

I've just finished talking                     to another customer                        asking about another 
                           popular toy/electronic device                        being out of stock,                 
when a (white) man asks me             if we sell         MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN caps
            due to his younger      (white male) companion         losing              a          bet.

No. I say.

                I don't ask                                                                       what the bet was.
                   He then asks                           if I know                              of another place of purchase. 
Three days prior,                     I was in Alabama.                               Tuscaloosa to be exact,
where a (white) man               told me and another Black woman                 that he flicks 
cigarette butts and other refuse        onto the lawn of a house       adorned with a banner 
         displaying the aforementioned slogan.           Surely, they would know.
         If they're unavailable,            he could try                 the Walmart down the street. 
                           Or just            
                                             I don't know  
                                                                        buy it                          
                                                                                          on the Internet.           
I stand             and continue to fold                a toddler's T-shirt.

No. I lie

                          to virtually every customer                who asks the same 
                          follow-up question                              about an item they're looking for.
He smiles. 
Thank you. 

__

ODE TO MY BODY #3

It's Thursday morning
and I'm listening 
to “Happiness”
by Sam Sparro.
I dance about my room
to the 90's House 
inspired piano melody. 
The keyboard's black 
and white keys control

                  my hips 

and feet 

                  and smile 

and lungs

which celebrate 
the Black body 
holding the strings.
The only violence here:
wires being struck
by tiny felt hammers. 
My body submits
to the softness 
of a tool used to beat 
and build beginnings.
I am a building
swaying and swelling
with a sunless heat 
so hot my sweat can be
confused for tears.
The tears that stain
my clothes are an offering. 
For once, my salt isn't used 
for preserving the dead, 
but rather to season my body 
with joy.

__

Some acts of defiance are performative, while others are actually genuine. I wanted to explore that using one of my favorite interviews featuring Richard Ayoade along with my trip to Alabama inspired "Don't Thank Me, I've Done Nothing for You." For "Ode to My Body #3," I wanted to write a joyous poem while incorporating one of my favorite songs that I obsessively played at one point in my life.