Curriculum Vitae OR I Know Everything (after Kendrick Lamar’s “Momma”)

I know everything.
I know Black people. I know white people.
I know everything. I know how to talk.
I know how to write. I know
everything. I know history. I know culture.
I know your history better than you
know mine. I know everything.

I know rhetorical shit. I know everything.
I know Socrates. I know Aristotle. I know
Plato was a genius with a grudge. I know
everything. I know literature. I know classics.
I know your definition of classics don’t resemble mine. I know

everything. I know DuBois. I know Hegel.
I know Richard Wright. I know Dostoevsky. I know
Ellison. I know Baldwin. I know Foucault. I know everything.
I know Toni Morrison. I know free birds sing
just as good as caged ones. I know intersectionality.
I know Kimberlee Crenshaw’s greatest hits is a remix
of Anna Julia Cooper.

I know everything.
I know collegiality. I know politics.
I know academe is just intellectual
capitalism. I know everything. I know
“the ways in which.” I know abstract shit.
I know everything. I know theory can explain all
until it can’t. I know everything.

I know “Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion.”
I know race is a social construct. I know
so is everything else. I know the master’s tools
will never dismantle his house. I know
you’ll pay me to try. I know everything.
I know I’m just a token
of goodwill to the students protesting outside.

I know everything. I know intellectual integrity.
I know my worth is non-negotiable
(but, for the record, starts at $80k). I know dignity.
I know the price of admission. I know my salary
won’t make a dent in what it cost me to get here.

What I do know, and paid dearly to never forget,
is that ultimately, like you, I don’t know shit.

Gabriel Green (he/him/his) is a Poet, Musician, and Scholar (in that order, depending the day) from Pontiac, MI. He currently resides in State College, PA where he is a Dual-Title PhD candidate at the Pennsylvania State University, studying English and African American/African Diaspora studies. The following poems are his take on some of the documents many institutions require as part of one's application dossier.