Curiosity

For your comfort
I tote
My heritage
Like a cheap handbag
Fables
Overheard
At kitchen tables
Smoke filled rooms
A slave legacy blue
Black of mixed descent
Through and through

For your curiosity
I can tell
The tales
Filled with concepts imaginary
Records in displacement lost
A transitory tragedy
Dignity maintained
My looks
A genetic gift
Ancestors still find
A way to live

For your interest
I’m grateful
Through telling
Their legacy alive
In action
Their gifts celebrated
Love and pain
Otherwise contained
Power and pain
Part of the game
My descendants
Spinning their own tales

Where are you from? Is a common question and the easy assumption is Indian. It is so much more complex than the questioner is interested in finding the answer. Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 2012-02-26.