Tag: poetry month

My Poetry

Black History does not just live in textbooks,
but on the tongues of poets.

Every stanza is a stepping stone
laid by those who came before me.
It echoes of cotton fields, jazz clubs,
freedom songs, and community.

This is more than poetry.
This is preservation.
This is protest.
This is legacy.
This is poetic justice.

These words be the revolution my ancestors prayed for.

This is why my poetry
cannot be disconnected
from my History.

Pen in hand, I’m stitching liberation into every line.

This is Phyllis Wheatley
and Gil Scott-Heron’s reminder
that my future is Black, brilliant,
and beautifully written.

Writing Poetry

7716writerSo I was thinking about poetry a lot this week. I’m in the midst of this like wondering moment if you will; a pondering of thoughts concerning poetry. I noticed that the inspiration I have to write poetry is different than the inspiration to write in general. It’s not like just sitting down and just writing but more like a wanting to express myself in a deeper way I suppose. To be more detailed, and filled with expression. For me writing poetry specifically cannot be forced. I don’t know if I could be asked and then write on the spot. It doesn’t come to me that way. For me it has to flow naturally, almost like breathing, it has to be inside of me and then I can let the words exhale from within me. Not to just write but to do so creatively, metaphorically, symbolically, lyrically. When I started writing poetry it was for reasons many start to write. I wrote what I could not speak, and what I could not speak I wrote down. Finding compassion and solace in the spaces between the words. And often going back to read what I felt and to see if I could still relate to those feelings or if I’d grown some.

Does the writing of poetry for you involve a similar process as writing in general or is there a different method involved?