Author: Q. Javon Overton

What is a Black Man Worth? I ponder the question: what is a black man worth? Is he valued based on the car he drives, or the job he takes? Is his value shown through the love of his wife and children? Does a black man have less value if he is standing on a … Continue reading What is a Black Man Worth?

You kill us!  What is your purpose?  You cannot destroy our blackness.  We will always be more than the selected victims you hang on your game room wall. Are we your ultimate trophy? Do you have a secret room you show your hunting buddies?  Does this room have Black Heads lining the walls?  What is … Continue reading TROPHY

Black I am the black mother. I am the black father. When we die do we devolve into the forgotten streets of society? Do our children become statistics lost to the world of illicit drugs and sex? What do I tell my near ancestors, my mother and father, of their grandchildren? Tell me, child, have … Continue reading BLACK

Sometimes I feel we can only be what we were. Frozen in a landscape of dripping tears and sagging emotions. We are sunburnt and frostbitten over time and seasons too many to recall. Weathered beyond our years. Having suffered at the hands of others. I see you in my mind. Things are clear and pure, … Continue reading We Must Remember

How to Keep Your Woman Happy Tell her you love her every day, every chance you get. Promise to love, honor and cherish her, and show her. Make love to her with the energy of a teenager and the knowledge of how she said she likes it. Sometimes you must share her tears; it will … Continue reading How to Keep Your Woman Happy

I tossed a boomerang into the future, and it returned with the residue of racism from tomorrow. Being black in Whitemerica is an Olympic sport. You cannot walk into the event of life and think it will be a fair competition. While we still dream of freedom, white America basks in it with no measure … Continue reading BOOMERANG

Why don’t you lay down and let me kiss you wherever youlike. All you must do is guide me with your eyes, and I will findthe spot and bring you pleasureIt has been so long since I have wanted to bring anyone thismuch passion.I pray you know what you want because my back is springloaded … Continue reading Breathe For Me

Come with me. I want to lie with you and feel your body close to mine.No, at this moment, I want us to feel the love and protection we give each other with our clothes on.I want to hear you exhale because I am not sensually touching your body, but because we reaffirm that lying … Continue reading Before

All I wanted was to hold your handonce more. To kiss you the passionate way only love can You are a queen Of all the titles I have worn, nothingmade me tremble with delight as muchas I wanted to be your man There is truth in your soul I can still hear your laughter ringingin … Continue reading Tears Between The Lines

I don’t go to the ocean anymore; it pains meTo smell the salty air.When I feel the sand beneath my feet, itConjures images of my first boat rideUpon the seaThere were no tickets or cabins alongThe decks, only a vast empty hull, ourBodies twisted together like cattle,Blood, vomit, and feces dripping downUpon the bodies belowSeasickness … Continue reading Distant Shores/Welcome Home

I realized last night that I miss being able to bathe in my blacknessTo feel my community, pull me in and restore my faith in our people every day, knowing I am centeredI miss seeing Big Mama standing in the kitchen humming her spirituals as if Jesus might be on the wayI crave those conversations … Continue reading Things I Miss

I am a Black man, African-born and slavery-tornI have walked in the warm sun of my native land and beaten, sold, and made to wear a brand on yoursCan I tell you of my will to survive, how I will never foldI carry the scarred skin you gave me, just a reminder of youforbidding my … Continue reading I Am A Black Man

Once upon a time in a land of cotton, we were a people the world thought time had forgottenThe world thought we were ignorant, but we had no choice but to prove our dominanceWe were already scholars with great cultures. You swooped in and thought since our skin was black, we must have no value, … Continue reading In a Land of Cotton

He weeps, a prisoner of his memories.Having lost what he loved once. Hesits and remembers the pleasure.The warmth of love long ago stolen.It still burns fresh in his mindand heart, thus he forever weeps, tryingTo wash away the memories, only toRemember them in forgetting.

There are so many things I enjoy sayingto you, like calling to say, honey, I’m on the way, and I can’t waitto taste your mouth and hear the sharp intake of air when you hear those wordsIt makes me smile to listen to you blush while holdingthe phoneit is as passionate as a phone call … Continue reading How Many Ways