how much can we love them before we armor ourselves against the rocks they will duck, dive, and still not miss; can we give them enough to share and if we do how do we assure that it does not meet the folly of a fickle hand that claims it suspicious, unlikely, and without merit?
I will not die with blood on my hands nor on discarded panties; not on the sheets a spot on the basement floor; under your nail & the stories chortled, drowned in beer; not buried in the front yard; not speckled the color of brick across every opportunity that comes for love; will not wear [...]
fellowship/publication submissions: 7 fellowship/publication acceptances: 0 fellowship/publication rejections: 1 books: __________________ Secret Shame: I'm a bully. (To myself). If I said the stuff I say to myself to other people, nobody would like me and I'd probably being fighting everyday. Mantra of the Moment: Pay attention. & I will and I can. I can and [...]
The Boy’s Girl A Delta flight attendant Valedictorian An Alvin Ailey dancer— Soul Train would do Stokely Carmichael's concubine (shh) The subject of a song, a nice song 21 That sigh Mama Cover Girl A broadcast journalist on Walden Pond Finally A missionary Carnival Queen The Black Madonna Damn In long skirts Dramatic Always Marva [...]
Heaven rolls its carpet for you; has not been the same since you. Harlem of the Mind—all dandies and magical as first kisses and a tree stump felt up like hips figure eight-ing in summer midis you are its spell. And there is no place to fit the smoke gathering, rising, and absorbing like fingertips [...]
fellowship/publication submissions: 0 fellowship/publication acceptances: 0 fellowship/publication rejections: 3 books: __________________ Secret Shame: My fingernails which have resisted Nailtique, multivitamins, and nightly hypnosis. I'm really considering biting them again so I'll have an excuse for their appearance. And my Napowrimo stats. Mantra of the Moment: ...but I can write a mean sentence you faster runner, better [...]
I'm behind on my 30 in 30 poem challenge. I'm still writing. But also reading. Today, Malika Booker's Twitter introduced me to Kei Miller ironically as I was listening to Gyptian's Wine Slow. This here? Yes. For the girl who died by dancing ‘It is a warning to young people that dem mus stop du [...]
fellowship/publication submissions: 0 fellowship/publication acceptances: 0 fellowship/publication rejections: 3 books: __________________ Secret Shame: My fingernails which have resisted Nailtique, multivitamins, and nightly hypnosis. I'm really considering biting them again so I'll have an excuse for their appearance. Mantra of the Moment: ...but I can write a mean sentence you faster runner, better dancer, mathematician with abs [...]
I've been writing about it all month...may as well finish out the month with it. Silence and silencing. The idea of silencing is nothing new. One of the first times I recognized it at play in my own work, I was a college student wannabe writer enrolled in an autobiography class in which we read [...]
…touch the scar to assure us the enemy lurking//will not bring shame where shame has no home. from “Touch: A Letter to the Mother” by L. Lamar Wilson I joined the ranks of the diagnosed mentally “ill” in 2006. Now my cursor is staring at me—accusing, threatening, impatient, nervous, and ashamed; daring me to say [...]
darlene anita scott 