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