I'm Clint Smith and this is "Ode to the Only Black Kid in the Class." You, it seems, are the manifestation of several lifetimes of toil. Brown v. Board in flesh. Most days the classroom feels like an antechamber. You are deemed expert on all things Morrison, King, Malcolm, Rosa. Hell, weren’t you sitting on that bus, too? You are every- body’s best friend until you are not. Hip-hop lyricologist. Presumed athlete. Free & Reduced sideshow. Exception and caricature. Too black and too white all at once. If you are successful it is because of affirmative action. If you fail it is because you were destined to. You are invisible until they turn on the Friday night lights. Here you are star before they render you asteroid. Before they watch you turn to dust.
我是 Clint Smith,帶來拙作 〈給班上唯一黑膚小子的你〉 諒你,是其來有自的化身 是勞苦數輩子的輪迴轉世 是 布朗 訴 教育局 的血肉身軀 (註:種族隔離被判違憲的案例) 教室的大部份日子 如坐大堂前的你 是公認的專家 諳知莫里森、金、麥爾坎、羅莎 (註:都是民權運動知名人士) 那巴士不是你當時坐著的嗎? 諒你,是人人的絕世好友 應該是,除非不是 脫口而出的饒舌高手 毋庸置疑的運動健將 茶餘飯後的娛人餘興 一張無與倫比的似顏繪 黑白分外雜會的怪咖 成功的你 是平權勝利 失敗的你 是宿命難敵 融入背景的你,直待週五夜 足球賽場的大燈亮起 把你蛻變成明星,扶搖成耀目行星 然後在眾目之下,化成塵埃