Poem: Pandemic Racism

Pandemic Racism

by Harith Morgan

I've only ever known COVID to be a magician
It brings cold into heated rooms
Under blankets and big hoodies

Chills... they call it
Funny how the phenomenon of the body attacking itself, sending nerves into minor shock, teaching natural defense mechanisms to raise arms against the self
All packs soo easily into one syllable
Chills.

I am exhausted
I expend resources defending from my very own existence
So long as I persist the problem remains
The problem is me

Black.... they call me
Pack enough venom in one syllable to teach me to hate myself
Sending self esteem into shock
Coping mechanisms soothing a self hatred that does not belong
Black.

And I've been lied to for so long
Chills are a symptom. COVID the disease
Self-hatred a symptom. Their insecurity a disease.
Besides...
I've only ever known my Blackness to be magic