Keep Pledging Betrayal Gentle Ramirez
WE PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE RED, BLACK, AND GREEN, OUR FLAG, THE SYMBOL OF OUR ETERNAL STRUGGLE, AND TO THE LAND WE MUST OBTAIN; ONE NATION OF BLACK PEOPLE, WITH ONE GOD OF US ALL, TOTALLY UNITED IN THE STRUGGLE, FOR BLACK LOVE, BLACK FREEDOM, AND BLACK SELF-DETERMINATION. I pledge allegiance to myself for this body. And to my transcestors and trans descendants who will never hear this poem. I pledge to be thankful, for all it can do and all it cannot. I pledge to feed you when you are hungry and to hold you unconditionally. And to gender dysphoria, I know you’ll choke. Right hand right on the bible, I’ve been forcefed lies about this body and was told those lies were liberty, I tell you I drowned in the baptism pool with everyone to witness, my skin, not even my own. Cried out prayers for anyone who would listen, After swallowing my own tongue for communion I addressed the prayer to myself. I was made feminine before I was made free. And so, I’ve been chasing this exodus, this justice, my masculinity For my own namesake. I pledge allegiance to my body and to the liberation for which it stands. To black trans people domestically and abroad, for all the godlikeness in us. I pledge betrayal to gender. I say fuck it. What has it ever done for me? Or black folx for that matter.
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