Reading the Combahee River Statement pt. 1

This is a “Weekly Spotlight” feature piece The genesis of Contemporary Black Feminism We would like to affirm that we find our origins in the historical reality of Afro-American women’s continuous life-and-death struggle for survival and liberation … There is undeniably a personal genesis for Black Feminism, that is, the political realization that comes from

Lessons

This is a “Weekly Spotlight” feature piece I’m watching my motherFrom my lowStoop/ a substantial womanIn body and mindGliding throughThe clutteredSpace of our roomAround my grandmother’s yellow arm chair,A hamper stuffed with clothesAnd both our desksLittered with papers—stories she wasTeaching me to write inA voice she was urging meTo use/Things she couldn’t learn me by

Bird Sacrifice

This is a “Weekly Spotlight” feature piece I started this poem inspired by witches, priestesses, and conjurers—women who empower themselves by leaning on the spirits of our ancestors and deities. My mother is one of those women. She pours gin into her shrine pot, which is lined at the bottom with rocks fetched from the

Town of Ghosts

This is a “Weekly Spotlight” feature piece I set first foot here/ On this dust This red earth Lit ablaze by the wide, full moon The one the wolves cry to The old, dark women pray against Howling as if they gave Life to the smoldering ground/ When we were fresh on each other’s minds

Barbara Doe

This is a “Weekly Spotlight” feature piece When my Aunt Barbara passed, three deer jumped her fence and lay together in her yard for about an hour, until the medical examiner arrived to pronounce her death. I don’t know for sure what connection she has with deer but I don’t believe in coincidence. She is