By Roya Marsh
cups, plates, scattered
spaghetti massacre on laps.
all the restaurant alert
&this ga’damn tv
sayin’ WE lost!
white girls vanish
the whole world grit they teeth,
but a black girl’s disappearance
warrants city wide curfews;
a second silencing
60 black girls ghost //
in the nation’s capital
&my phone never rang about it!
64,000 in the world
&Lady Gaga ain’t sanging bout it.
whole world a stop motion.
freeze frame.
stand still.
just that final gust of wind
that kills the candle.
*shiiiiit, WE already dead.
ain’t no “epidemic”
of people being snatched.
it’s a rite of passage.
every gentrified brick is
another brown future
collapsed into rubble !
no one told the Black girl
“see you later” was a prayer
begging us survive our own erasure.
they finna celebrate our absence
with silence. no sense
in giving white media the right to speak
for us
ain’t no siren
news segment
no forest fire
or biblical flood
coming to make us anew
if nothing has tried to kill you
you have failed
bullet be to black body
like our body be nothing at all
ain’t no video of our maim & murder
cameras couldn’t capture our kidnapping
our mama’s tucking in a phantom
at night
an invisible vigil
a memorial
for the girl
the world has already forgotten
we gotta be our own
saviors
I’m fighting for you
got my eyes & ears peeled
knuckles bare & bloody
hoarse
you ain’t gonna never be alone
long as my heart
got rhythm
!scream!
!exist!
go Jesus in the temple on em’
let them hear our battle cry
let’s crash this
private lynching
let loose our noosed neck
leave the gawking crowd
astounded
when black girls
rise from the dust
they make of us
ALERT
Dashaan
I’m crying your name
Relisha
Alert
Taylor
I’m looking for you
Dayana
even if no one else is
Talisha
call back
Morgan
come back
Jacqueline
Robin
Aniya
ALERT OLUWATOYIN
ALERT OLUWATOYIN
ALERT OLUWATOYIN
ALERT
ALERT
ALERT
________________
yeah, i flipped a table once
fucked they whole shit up//
and i’d do it again
if that’s what it takes for y’all
to see us
Roya Marsh’s poem “i flipped a table once” is a powerful argument against the erasure of Black girls and women. The poem talks about the lack of media attention and public outrage when Black girls and women go missing by comparing it with the intense searches that happens when white girls disappear. The poem shows the racial inequities in how society values life and issues calls to action, demanding justice, and visibility for those who have been forgotten. The speaker in this poem is passionate, frustrated, and angry throughout the entire poem. The spark expresses deep concern for missing Black girls and the personal pain of invisibility, and it seems like they are coming from a place of lived experiences. The speaker is a Black woman who could’ve experienced the trauma of neglect that made her feel unworthy. The speaker uses direct and unfiltered language nad tone, and this shows they are fed up and want to take a drastic action to draw attention to this injustice.
The title, “i flipped a table once”, acts as the starting point into the poem’s anger and passion. The speaker flipping a table is a literal expression of her outrage, but it also shows her refusal to remain a bystander in a society that continues to ignore the disappearance of Black girls. By “flipping the table”, the speaker disrupts the norm and is making it almost impossible for others to ignore them. This metaphor extends throughout the poem, and this suggests that flipping a table is the first step in changing the system that erases Black girls and women. One of the most significant lines in the poem is “no one told the Black girl / ‘see you later was a prayer / begging us to survive our own erasure.” These lines go straight to the poem’s theme of survival against the odds. The everyday phrase “see you later” takes on a deeper meaning when applied to Balck girls who could be erased, whether that is through violence or disappearance. The use of the word “prayer” adds a spiritual and religious layer to the need to survive. It seems like the “prayer” is hoping that Black girls will return home safely is an act of faith since the world often forgets them.
Marsh uses several poetic techniques to emphasize the angry and frustration in the poem. Anaphora which is the repetition of words or phrases, is used most notably when the speaker repeats “ALERT” near the end of the poem. This is like the emergency notifications and it is direct call for awareness, and it underscores the urgency of the message that Black girls are missing and no is paying attention and looking for them. In the line “every gentrified brick is / another brown future / collapsed into rubble” a metaphor is used. This metaphor links gentrification with the destruction of Black futures, which continues the focus on the harm caused by systemic inequalities. Marsh’s diction is raw and (blank) with words like “fucked,” “shiiiiit,” and “gawking crowd” and this emphasizes her anger and frustration with the situation. These diction choices increase the intensity and make the reader feel the urgency that the speaker has about missing Black girls. The poem also goes into the historical violence against Black people when using phrases like “second silencing” and “private lynching” while putting it in current context.
In conclusion, Roya Marsh’s “i flipped a table once” is a critique of how society neglects Black women and girls. By using powerful language, metaphors, and a complex structure, Marsh mourns the missing but also draws attention and awareness to the problem. This leaves the reader with her sense of urgency and demand for justice.
