Claudia Alick's poem "What’s my name?"

WHAT'S MY NAME?

What's my name?
What's my name?
What's my name?

Don’t you hold your tongue
try and look to the left or the right
you better stare me in the eye
hope you aint blinded by the light

Claudia the unbelievable
Claudia the unforgettable
Claudia the unbeatable
Claudia the undefeatable

You just try and forget this
I aint that easy to miss
I’m the hot disabled black bisexual chick
I’m a fill every demographic

Give me a box and I’ll check it
Give me a stereotype and I’ll wreck it
Give me a barrier, I’ll break it
Give me a scholarship and I’ll take it

Cause I’m the ultimate minority
Posterchild for diversity
Daughter of an immigrant
And us 2nd Gens know we gotta make it

Cause when you got odds against you
Only choice is to be excellent
And when you go both ways you got more places to go
When you get where folks is at you get where they coming from

So here I am letting all my seams show
Cause who gets it better than one of your own
We all belong to the same family
I can’t promise to be polite or PC

But this life’s on loan so I’ll speak with all honesty
So here it is the agony and the ecstasy
The gifts of privilege, the history of slavery
The suffragettes progeny, the medical mystery
The strivers dream, the cynics bravery

Cause I’ve Gots to believe it all turns out fine
That every challenge that kicks my behind
Just gives me more opportunities to refine
The mad skills I got that blow your mind

So Give me a box and I’ll check it
Give me a stereotype and I’ll wreck it
Give me a barrier, I’ll break it
Give me a future and I’ll create it

Cause I aint quittin till this game is won
Even if it’s rigged and they aint given ya nothin
You just try and tell me this shit aint fun
Cause I might not be able to run

But I roll hard and I roll fast
Like I got the devil on my ass
I’ll never be caught last
So what did I ask
What I ask

The unbelievableThe unforgettableThe unbeatableThe undefeatable

What’s my name?!

- Claudia Alick