Oprah stands at the foot of my bed,
hands on hips, says, girl,
get on up out that bed.
We've got work to do. You, me,
and Bob Greene (he yawns).

Oh shit, I think,
there's a whiteman in my bedroom.

Smoothing my hair,
suddenly aware that I am in my sun
moon stars jammies
and all gym clothes are in the laundry,
I say, okay, I just have to call my mother.
Of course, I offer them juice and low fat
bran muffins as I reach for the phone.

Oprah purses her lips,
taps her foot, says,
girl, if you don't change now,
you'll miss the connection.

Copyright © Cherise A. Pollard. All rights reserved. Used by permission of the author

Cherise A. Pollard's poems have been published in The Drumming Between Us: Black Love and Erotic Poetry, 5AM, and other venues. She has been a featured reader in the Mad Poets Series at Chester County Pennsylvania Book and Music Company and at the Upper Merion Pennsylvania Library, as part of their Friends of Black History Program. An Assistant Professor of African American Literature and Composition at West Chester University, she earned her Ph.D. in Cultural and Critical Studies at The University of Pittsburgh in 1999, and lives in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

Copyright © 1997-2006 by Cave Canem Foundation, Inc.

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