American Sonnet for My Past and Future Assassin [Even the most kindhearted white woman] by Terrance Hayes

American Sonnet for My Past and Future Assassin [Even the most kindhearted white woman]

 

Even the most kindhearted white woman,

Dragging herself through traffic with her nails

On the wheel & her head in a chamber of black

Modern American music may begin, almost

Carelessly, to breathe n-words. Yes, even the most

Bespectacled hallucination cruising the lanes

Of America may find her tongue curls inward,

Entangling her windpipe, her vents, toes & pedals

When she drives alone. Even the most made up

Layers of persona in a two- or four-door vehicle

Sealed in a fountain of bass & black boys

Chanting n-words may begin to chant inwardly

Softly before she can catch herself. Of course,

After that, what is inward, is absorbed.