The Masques of Colored Folks

[pinerow]

The Masques of Colored Folks ©Ramón Piñero 4/13/2007


When you
look at
your reflection
what
do you see?

Staring at
the face
staring at you,
can you see
your father
bent over,
in back
breaking
work
hunched over
at the end
of the day
unable
to stand.

As you
stare at
that reflection
do you see
the sun baked
age lines
tracing that
voyage
the Middle Passage
that he survived
do you see
the face
of agony
etched
eternally
across his
brow;
burned
indelibly
into his
soul.

As you
prepare
yourself
for that
night on
the town
Do you
see the
price he
paid so
that you
may fritter
away your
legacy.

What face
do you see
staring back
when you
look into
that mirror
Is it
the face
of
"I got mine
to hell
with yours"
or perhaps
"I made it
why can't you?"

Can you
see the
grizzled
sun-bleached
face
of the
comadre
as she
washes
her clothes
by the
riverbank
scrubs the
floor in
the office
building
cleans the
soiled
underclothes
of some
strangers
baby.

Whose face
do you see
when you
stare
blankly at
your future
without
holding on
to your past.

You have
assimilated
successfully;

You have
cut the ties
to the
lifeboat;
you will
sink or
swim
alone.

Tell me,
Whose face
do you see
when you
stare at the
reflection
in the glass.

Is it the face
of honesty
and reason
born after
generations
of learning
from the past,
or
(more likely)
it is the face
of greed
and contentment
a self satisfying
reflection
of delusion.

A constructed
illusion made
necessary
in order
to give
your
tortured
life meaning?

As if
you really
made it
without
help.

The smug
demeanor
of a meaner
know-it-all
so filled
with pride
so full
of shit.

That masque
you wear
hides the
truth from
no one,
except
perhaps,
you.

[govegan]

1. Reminds me of Paul Laurence Dunbar

His great short poem "We Wear The Mask", which was featured in the Rosa Parks Story.

We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,--
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be overwise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!

FYI, typo in 6th stanza, as you likely intended it to be the "sun-bleached face of the COMRADE"

The actor who plays Rosa's husband recites those verses quite beautifully.

Here is a good site for Dunbar's work and info. http://www.dunbarsite.org/

Of course, quite a contrast in feeling and meaning between the two poems, albeit with a similar theme. Dunbar was a "colored folk", being described on the above web site as follows:


Paul Laurence Dunbar was the first African-American to gain national eminence as a poet. Born in 1872 in Dayton, Ohio, he was the son of ex-slaves and classmate to Orville Wright of aviation fame.
Although he lived to be only 33 years old, Dunbar was prolific, writing short stories, novels, librettos, plays, songs and essays as well as the poetry for which he became well known. He was popular with black and white readers of his day, and his works are celebrated today by scholars and school children alike.
His style encompasses two distinct voices -- the standard English of the classical poet and the evocative dialect of the turn-of-the-century black community in America. He was gifted in poetry -- the way that Mark Twain was in prose -- in using dialect to convey character.

[pinerow]

2. not a typo...

comadre is Spanish for "distant female relative,,,an aunt, a cousin etc...thanks for the feedback