Keynote Speaker Sherley Cherenfant |
Koro Koroye performs a poem she wrote. |
The program concluded with Koro Koroye, a 1st year graduate student pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree, sharing with the audience a poem she wrote called, “Michelle,” which is her tribute to First Lady Michelle Obama. The poem can be found below along with a link of Koro performing the poem (not at this event). With vigor and certainty in her words, we were left with inspiration and pride.
I encourage you to look at our Black History Month calendar, and continue the celebration by participating in our events throughout the month.
Michelle
By Koro Koroye
If Disney princesses could escape
from their enchanted castles,
if they could grow out of their
corsets and frilly dresses,
I bet they would want to be like
you.
I know regret is a human emotion,
A weakness we only feel
but I wonder if God ever calls
with feathers in his voice
asking that you return to your
birthplace;
excuse my blasphemy,
but it never made much sense to me
how an angel could walk
amongst mere mortals and still
be so humble,
so pure,
so free of Barbie doll defined
perfection
but still so perfect.
I bet Egypt knocks at your door
every night begging that you wear
a crown even for a night
and show women with
dark skin African complexions
that beauty is not something
that can be powdered or blushed,
it’s something in the way you
carry yourself with the strength
of 300 Greek warriors,
it’s something in the way
the tsunami wave of your voice
hits the shallow minds of men
who see our bodies as objects,
they treat us like subjects
and expect us to greet them as kings
but you Michelle,
you have shown us that a man
cannot walk without the spinal cord
of a woman,
you are the backbone holding up
the body of a nation
and I can only pray that the earth
someday welcome my feet like they do
yours
and I hope you continue to inspire
the butterfly wing heartbeats
of a million hopeful girls
who have no choice but to grow up in
a world
filled with too many frogs
and not enough glass slippers.
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