WHEN BOOKER HIT THE STAMP

April 7, 1940

Booker T. Washington

became the first black

person to be put on a stamp

I wonder how many licks

became hack-up spits

on the back

how many envelopes

were holed by being

pressed too hard

how many just refused

for fear that this was

omen adhesive

or negro juju

like Booker would

paper cut white skin

into bleeding human