‘If the hero was black’ and Other Poems
Ashley Harris
If the hero was black
1. the old man would say its dangerous for
1. you to go alone, take nothing that
1. looks like a gun
2. Zelda the series would be
2. harder
3. There would be no second chance
3. after a game over
4. The hero would have a hard time fighting a man
4. of the same color
5. He wouldn’t be able to leave clock town
6. He wouldn’t need a mask to get a
6. dance down
7. They would say he stole the triforce
8. He would be the “good” black
9. Zelda would say he looks
9. suspicious
10. He wouldn’t get away with breaking into
10. peoples homes
11. He would get shot
12. He wouldn’t get away with stealing peoples rupees
13. He would get shot
14. The dancing scarecrow would be his uncle
15. He wouldn’t agree with Ganondorf’s looting
15. but understand his feelings
16. It would be him in the cell and
16. Tingle the con artist outside
17. He would choose Zelda over his darker skinned
17. sister and mother
18. Some troll would cut holes in his infinite pockets
19. He would play trumpet or sax
20. There would be no way all that hair would fit under that cap
21. They would mistake him as Beedle, the shopkeeper
22. He would still go down in the historia
22. as white
23. They’d call him boy for the rest of his life
24. They’d mistake him as a dark design, then apologize
25. Him and dark Link would be cousins
26. They would ask him what he is
26. mixed with
27. He would cut peoples grass for
27. the rest of his life
28. He would be innocent
29. No one but his mom would know this
30. He wouldn’t be silent
31. They would ask if he is from the desert
32. Kaepora Gaebora would speak
32. slower to him
33. Hyrule would blame him for everything
34. He would do all the work with little credit
35. Forget sea charts and heart containers,
35. he would become free labor
36. He would ask if he is the hero
36. Or a servant
37. He would be the first
For all the masks formed:
The history of race
Is a history of masks, a history
Of those forced to
wear them, and those who do it
voluntarily. A mask is
a body: from the curls sewn
at its roots
to the thick of its bottom lip,
Link fits into all the masks:
Zora,
Goron,
Deku
Scrub,
white boy
with blonde hair and blue eyes
fits all sizes,
Someone died for him
to wear that body,
Someone lost for him
to wear those long
ivy green deku scrub locs,
it makes me wonder
what dead black girl Kylie Jenner
is wearing,
who was sacrificed for
the pleasure
of Rachel Dolezal?
I’ve watched people try on bodies so long
I mistook skin as clothing,
I tried to be like Link,
wondering
who would have to die
for me to reincarnate into
another shade
or
if I could only look beautiful
on another person’s
face.
Ganondorf
Progress
is going from being
drawn in history
as a green pig into
a dark skinned human,
but forever being
the main villain.
It is your rage being
the main plot but not
what brought about
the rage