The black girl thinks about a lot of things—
why her hair spirals in every direction
why her lips look like pillows fit to burst
why her skin is dark as the midnight sky

But mostly

why her hair makes her the punchline of the white man's joke
why she could not go to school because of the fullness of her lips
why her chocolate skin brought
isolation

To the black man

she is just another girl
sharp as a knife
pretty as a gem
fierce as a panther

But to the white man

she is just another girl
too dumb to defend herself
skin ugly as tar
too weak to fight back against white hate

Yes, black girl thinks about a lot of things.