The following poem was written as a part of my mentoring position in Pongo Poetry Project’s King County Juvenile Detention Center. Each week in preparation for working with students in juvenile detention, mentors write a poem inspired by a specific theme. The week of January 17th we wrote along the theme of Civil Disobedience, I […]
BODIES We don’t need your spirit We need your body Standing with us Chanting with us I need you here beside me, In solidarity But instead you send well wishes and sorries You say, “I’ll be there in spirit” Instead of with the group following You ghost And your words, swallow them We’re toast, Because […]
You! Stop! Wait! Who are you? What are you doing here? I’m the manifestation of Your greatest fear Coming now is the change Look at you, With that nappy hair I’m confused By those street clothes That you wear You come in here with style and grace I said it was your face But we […]
To my brothers and sisters, Trapped on the inside This is for my Kings and Queens I am a warrior fighting for you Know that your demonstration has been seen This is for my royal family Strapped in the armor of golden skin Do not become week You are empowered with Melanin This is statement […]
I am a poet. I am a black bodied Nappy headed, Kinky haired, Glossed lipped, Thick hipped female poet. I am a voice obsessed yet heavily oppressed, Drowned in shame and suffering. I am a member of the last group to receive suffrage. I am made up of mouths who were never allowed to speak. Whooped […]
I only have one nuclear family picture. It is not professionally taken Or beautifully framed. Its chipped and ripped From being poorly maintained. It’s the only picture I have Of my father, mother, sister & I. It is so old And I was so young You wouldn’t even recognize. Regardless, It is special to me […]
American Independence Day, July 4th, has always been a conflicting holiday for me as a black person. That conflict was ignored year after year until 2016 when that conflict was illustrated gruesomely after the police murders of two innocent black men, American citizens, just after the United States’ celebration of White America’s independence. Rest in Power […]
The following poem was written when I was a student as a submission for the Clamor Art Journal. It is inspired by America’s use of blackness as a symbol of negativity. This places a label on Americans who use black as a label for their ethnic identity. I am Black. I’m black Black market, black cat, […]