Two strikes against her when she began

Life as a Black child in poverty

Air filled with mercury from the nearby power plant

Burning coal, destroying the world and her brain 

Daddy shot and killed with impunity by a White cop

Because his old car had a taillight out and daddy

Didn’t show proper deference

Momma overwhelmed drowned her sorrows in

Alcohol and forgot she was a mother

Baby girl so hungry she ate the lead-based paint chips 

Peeling off the slumlord’s windowsill,

Cries unheeded while rats chewed off her outer ear

Brain damaged, body damaged, soul damaged,

They mocked her and called her stupid in school

Teachers said she could never learn

Destined for addiction, prostitution, abuse

Until Another came, skin black as night

Eyes shining like the stars

Breasts full of milk

Heart full of love

Temperament characterized by patience

She loved her, nursed her, sang to her, rocked her,

Soothed her, taught her, bathed her, dressed her,

And prayed over her speaking words of tender life

Until poor little Black girl became the

Mayor of the magical city of love

LRT