It was the consultant’s purse:

black leather with a

proclamation in all caps branded into

the flat sides. 

Signal rather than a sentiment. 

It signaled: we can buy 

something instead of being 

something. 

& maybe even 

to buy, 

to consume 

the thing 

was better. 

The work could be tedious, 

lonely, 

and not celebrated. 

In consumption, there was at 

least the signal.

To those who knew

No better

It said

PROTECT BLACK WOMEN

& the naive ones took 

it for gospel.

They were so happy to see

Her & her signifying bag.

A beacon, 

They thought. 

But those who knew better

Knew

The purse meant she was here

To consume us,

Or at the very least

To chew us up and spit us out

on the sidewalk beside yesterday’s gum.

The purse was a warning:

PROTECT BLACK WOMEN

(from me).

Those of us who

Understand such significations knew

Her purse meant she was

the thing

Black women

should be protected

from.