Black Girl Magic is taken from ‘The Sun Still Rises’, a beautiful collection of poetry by Munna Abdelhady. Growing up in Pennsylvania, being a woman of colour was unfamiliar but poetry gave Munna a voice when she felt like she didn’t have one.
Black girl magic
Her ignorant eyes would lead her to ignoring the obvious things
Things that would cause her to scream
A truth she would never want to believe
When she came of age
She questioned everything
Like how her mama’s hair laid clean
Or how her families skin did not bathe in coffee and cream
She looked to her siblings with envy wanting to fit in
Wanting to look like how all her family did
Questioning their skin
Why was their hair straight
She looked to her sister with a beehive rested on her head
A crown in disguise
Pretty caramel girl missed out on her daddy’s words
That even she too was a queen
She couldn’t see the beauty that brown could be
She would take her frustrations out on her hair
With a straightener and a collection of screams
Insecurities and years of fighting
Finally gave her peace
A thought she believed she would never reach
Until she aged to be
Brown beauty
