I Will Slap You Only If…

I am legend
has just proved
it’s a game
of the bullied
and their bullies

If Chris Rock
was The Rock
there would have been
no approach
no macho, chest out stride
no slap across the face

We size each other up
decide
who shall be trampled
who shall be pedestaled
who shall be shone
who shall be shunned

When we are outsized
the will to lash out
finds space for restraint
we find other ways to collide

And in this land
where Black men have lost life
for as much as looking
at another man’s wife
this is not the hand
to be carrying that legacy forward

Somewhere in the world today
another man is hurling an open palm
in the direction of a surprised face
and saying this is how we deal
I learned this from my hero, Will.

Will Smith slaps Chris Rock after Jada Pinkett Smith joke at Oscars