55 Search results for "poems"

by Jari Bradley During the peak of the pandemic in 2020, there were numerous online poetry readings being held for the public to attend. I was just finishing my Master of Fine Arts program after three years on the East Coast, and with all the calamity that the world felt comprised of at that time, […]

Lamont Lilly is a writer, activist, and father whose work echoes the struggles for justice and ambitions of our generation.  These four poems push us to think differently about blackness in the contemporary moment. From the author: “Each piece is a reflection of the people, places and experiences of struggle that have shaped who I […]

We can jump on Chief Keef for what he does, but it’s unfair to attack who he is, because who is is a reflection of the world he inherited from us. That fact is something that very few of us ever even think of, let alone accept.

by Tayler Simon In the 2024-2025 school year, more than 4,000 unique titles were banned in the United States. Titles like All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison were among the most challenged books, reflecting a trend of targeting books by Black and/or LGBTQ+ authors. While all […]

Ontological I see a vision  in stored  for much more  than we  give credit to  even when are remised  at what Heaven sent  Go often days  with no, repent  When judgment clouds  an empty brain  and war is outside  Just within the frame  Hallowed be thy name  Now tell me baby  what do you see  […]

Creative expression did not begin with writing. It began with voice — with stories spoken across rooms, songs carried across distance, rhythms tapped into tabletops and knees when words alone could not hold what needed to be said. Long before notebooks, microphones, or publishing platforms, Black communities were shaping experience into sound and gesture so […]

by James Mbuthia Ndung’u     The creator’s code: Input, persons Function, love Operating to create freedom, output. A farmer cultivating, and tending to their farm; reaping an infallible world order.   The human plant corrupts itself with fear of losing freedom that was never lost, a virus. It transforms some inputs into ‘bugs’- persons […]

  By Tongo Eisen-Martin Grip my heart tighter, Lord, help me write on this sleeve…  I build a criminal organization and crow/trying to make some kind of sense of art and my murder           Talk scientifically to my siblings                  Talk scientifically to Dante’s […]

by Donnie Moreland  Literarily, the words Black and erotic are dissonent. A by product of what would become synonymous with talk about sex, in the public domain, for Black folk—sin, depravity, immorality, etc. Though canonically scattered, some Black folk do dabble in erotic fiction. A previous romantic partner of mine introduced me to Zane—the most […]

by Loni Amor This essay contains discussions of suicidal ideation. Inspired by First Fruit festivals of Southern Africa, African-American civil rights activist and academic, the extremely problematic  Dr. Maulana Ron Karenga established Kwanzaa in 1966. Deriving from the Swahili phrase “matunda ya kwanza”, which translates loosely to “first fruits of the harvest”, Kwanzaa offers Black […]

By Tez Files Baptize me. Now that reconciliation is possible, if we’re gonna heal, let it be glorious. – Beyoncé, “Sandcastles” I must have heard Beyoncé’s “Sandcastles”a dozen times. I read all types of complexity into its lyrics. After having gone through a very difficult break-up, it was healing to sit with my emotions and […]

I hated summer reading lists growing up — hate is a strong word, but it’s honest.