Friends, if you click on the Poetry Foundation Link, you can hear Author Kimberly Jae herself read the poem.
I adore this.
Copyright © 2020 by Kimberly Jae.
Black Momma Math
BY KIMBERLY JAE
If a jar of jelly is $2.98
& a loaf of Hawaiian bread is $4
Then how much bail money will I need when I kill everyone in my house
for eating all the bread
and jelly in 5 minutes?
Black Momma Math
If Black Momma has a two 17-year-old Black Boys
What is the probability that they will come home in a body bag in the next 5 years?
If Son A leaves Ferguson at 3pm traveling at 60 miles per hour and Son B leaves Baltimore at 5pm
traveling at 50 miles per hour
to drive to Florida,
what time and which morgue
will their bodies be delivered to
when their music and Black Boy Joy inspire a stand your ground tango?
Better yet,
what is the cost of a funeral times 2 if a police officer pulls them over?
If 6 out of 10 people have math anxiety,
Then how many Black women out of 10 have murdered baby anxiety?
Everyone says Black women can’t math
But we have been Black Momma mathing since the beginning of time
They have been long divisioning us since Africa become too valuable to keep as a whole
We’ve been reduced like fractions
Told we’re not equivalent
Compared to and found wanting against each other
even though we have the same common denominator
We get broken down like quadratic equations
Our squared roots have been cut in half
Our ancestral variables are left unknown
We’re always solving for the y
If distance equals rates times time
And the rate of Blacks killed by cops is 9x more than everyone else
Then how distant are we from legalized lynching?
Black women are educated
But being Black Momma provides a more specialized education
Black Momma Philosophy
If I let my son play outside with a toy gun and there are no news camera around to see it,
when the police shoot him
is it murder or self-defense?
We already know which harsh truths everyone ignores until someone not Black validates us
Is it possible that some people are just genetically predisposed to hate?
How free is our will if our fate is decided by our melanin
What is the meaning of Black lives when so many people don’t think we matter?
Black Momma Math
If a jar of jelly is $2.98
& a loaf of Hawaiian bread is $4
But I’m too scared to let my babies go to the grocery store
What is the probability that I am just delaying the inevitable?
Copyright © 2020 by Kimberly Jae.
Poetry Foundation. Org says: Kimberly Jae, "Black Momma Math" from In the Shadow of the Mic: Three Decades
of Slam Poetry in Pittsburgh. Copyright © 2020 by Kimberly Jae. Reprinted by
permission of Kimberly Jackson.
Source: In the Shadow of the Mic: Three Decades of Slam Poetry in Pittsburgh
(Bridge and Tunnel Books, 2020)
This poem was shared on Pi Day, named for the mathematical constant approximately
equal to 3.14159. Read more about poetry and math in this learning prompt.
Very cool. VERY! And sad too.
Happy reading/listening
Happy last Sunday of the year to you: sharing something I love to
help end the year with happy vibes and jollity. And awareness…
I’m a simple woman who dares to see the beauty in ordinary. I’d love to connect with you and like pen pals, I want something beautiful to blossom between us. Will you join me? Selma is my middle name. Its meaning—peaceful, complete, are euphoric affirmations I like to think of myself as having. They compliment the joy I feel when I write. I sincerely hope you decide to join me on my writing journey. I Wish You Miracles.
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- From Poem of The Day: Black Momma Math by KIMBERLY JAE - December 29, 2024
those last lines… so powerful
Powerful. Like a punch on the stomach. Wish this was just fiction.
I bow to this creative for saying it like she does. Wish more people to read this.
Thanks Beth. Thanks for being in my life. Happy New Year. 🤗
yes and back at you –
What a poignant poem. Thanks for sharing.
Aww, VJ. Happy you enjoyed it. Blessing you dear one. Happy New Year 🥳
Happy New Year to you too, Selma
Her words are so simple, yet powerful. It’s such a sad state of our world that they are also true. Maggie
Oh my gosh, yes. Simple but deep. It hurts that this is still a thing. Just not fair. Thanks Maggie. Blessings. Happy New Year. 🥳
I read and listened to this and my heart ached . . . I have my own share of these poems . . . and I am well-versed in Black Math. And to this day, I will never KNOW the mathing Black Mamas have to do. *Sighs* Thank you for sharing this piece, Selma. Thank you.
Me too. My heart and my stomach hurts.
I’m glad you read and liked it, trE. Blessing you. Happy New Year.
Thank you for sharing this poem Selma. The struggle continues. Such a sad state.
Thank you so much for reading dear Nigel. Blessing you. Happy New Year. 🥳