KEITH OLBERMANN CALLS ANGEL REESE AN IDIOT FOR CELEBRATING IN THE FACE OF CAITLYN CLARK, AND I WANT HER TO DO IT AGAIN …
And again. I want him to wake up
in a cold sweat with her name
on his tongue. Choke
on each micro-French tipped finger.
I want his daughter named Angel
and his son named Reese. I want
him to see tigers everywhere.
I want the pump to read $102.85
every time he fills up, and I want
him to know why.
I was eleven when Don Imus,
mouth full of tombstones, skin,
cracked porcelain,
called the Rutgers women’s basketball team
nappy-headed hoes and I still don’t think
they buried him deep enough.
When your only sin is being the best,
which God do you pray to for forgiveness?
They wanted to let Brittney die
for less than a gram. I can’t be silent now.
I mean, Keith, right now, somewhere
in East Baton Rouge, a girl with skin
the color of mahogany and cherry oak
and ash is being told she’s too dark to wear red.
Keith, I don’t remember the last time I heard
a Black girl’s name in the news for anything
other than dying. Keith,
to be Black and woman in America
is to both birth the noose and teach it
to tie itself around your neck.
I am not asking for permission to celebrate,
only that you recognize why she would.
Keith, she can’t be quiet when her disrespect
was anything but. Keith, remember Angel.
Manicured hand pointing to finger,
lungs full of the sweetest air,
Joyful. Determined. Alive.
—from Poets Respond
April 9, 2023
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Ryan Boyland: “Caitlyn Clark and Angel Reese are two of the best players in college basketball today. When Angel Reese and the LSU Tigers won the national championship this past week, Reese mimicked a celebration that Clark had used the week prior, and was heavily criticized for it.” (web)
