This is a love letter to Black women, my sisters. I have never loved anyone quite as hard as I have loved you. This is not to say that I have not loved others well or loved them deeply, because I have. But loving you is hardness, requiring the density of commitment fortified by an enamelContinue reading “Love Letter to Black Women”
Tag Archives: poetry
In Memoriam: Amiri Baraka Made My World a Black Poem
I was trying to comprehend exactly why the death of poet Amiri Baraka affected me so deeply. I cried when I heard. I haven’t read his work in years, I didn’t always agree with his politics and polemics, but still…I feel I lost something yesterday afternoon. Amiri Baraka spoke at Florida State when I attended, I thinkContinue reading “In Memoriam: Amiri Baraka Made My World a Black Poem”
Love Song to Black Men
I am in love. I’ve known it since I was a teenager, looking with young brown eyes at his chocolate skin and easy smile. He called me shorty, and it was all over. I lived for his hugs, his daps, and my heart strings were tied to the soles of his feet. That love startedContinue reading “Love Song to Black Men”
Poets Changing Lives One Rhyme at a Time
Fifteen years ago, Keith Rodgers held a get together in the living room of his Tallahassee, FL apartment. People sat on the sectional couch under dim lighting, hunched knees-to-chin on the staircase, or stood behind the kitchen counter and waited. Finally, Keith stood up the in middle of the living room with his back toContinue reading “Poets Changing Lives One Rhyme at a Time”
Poets: Booing is for Ghosts & Hissing is for Snakes
A stage is a magical place. All at once, you are naked to the audience, who views you while you cannot see them; but the stage is also a location of great power, allowing a performer to armor himself or herself with the performance. The greatest performances coat a universal vulnerability with a thin layerContinue reading “Poets: Booing is for Ghosts & Hissing is for Snakes”
dara t. mathis 