Denise Westfield 4/27/22 Denise Westfield 4/27/22

Seasons

Marcel opened her eyes slowly. She blinked rapidly, inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly. She was alive. She was honestly surprised to be awake, yet again.

Tamara NA Toney 4/25/22 Tamara NA Toney 4/25/22

Heavy

It was then that I really saw the exodus. I remember the mattresses- some folded to accommodate another- others splayed on the sides of trucks and vans. I remember the strained faces of a people who were trying to get to a destination some of which were unknown.

Ethan Knowles 10/30/20 Ethan Knowles 10/30/20

Passing Through

It was not until my third affair (the wrench in my relationship with Despair), that I began souveniring. In some ways the habit snuck up on me and in some ways it did not. In some ways it was entirely haphazard, wild and almost beyond my control. In some ways, I was totally in control

Lafleur Cockburn 10/30/20 Lafleur Cockburn 10/30/20

Memory Games

Yuh wake up screaming, parched lips bitter from the tail-end of another nightmare…

Barbara Arrindell 10/30/20 Barbara Arrindell 10/30/20

Belonging To Barbuda

Sally: You bring me here to ask foolish questions like that? You think anybody take time to tell enslaved people when and where they born? Many of us didn’t even know who bring us into this world, but not my children. I made sure that they grew up with me and that they knew their father.

Aaliyah De Mendonca 10/30/20 Aaliyah De Mendonca 10/30/20

Body Count

Because to me, it means nothing; it’s just a number

It gives me no validation nor brings me shame

Nneka Nicholas 10/30/20 Nneka Nicholas 10/30/20

Forgiveness

As Shea sat in the pew listening to Father Lewis preach about forgiveness, her mind wandered back to the trial. Fr. Lewis was getting into the throes of the sermon and showed no signs of letting up any time soon. She allowed her thoughts to drift.

Willum 10/30/20 Willum 10/30/20

Ouroboros

Through all layers and fits it slithered

Though still I scrambled to look decent

Aaliyah De Mendonca 10/30/20 Aaliyah De Mendonca 10/30/20

The Weight of my Feminity

Heavy is the weight of my femininity,

But a weight I will bare until a change has come

Ade' Arthur 10/30/20 Ade' Arthur 10/30/20

Praying for her Nádleehi

She wanted the baby to be okay. Slowly the vision started and she knew, she knew the way that mothers’ know. She knew that this was her child, even though the person in her vision was not a baby, not even a small child, she knew that this was her baby and yes her child was beautiful.

Janielle Browne 10/30/20 Janielle Browne 10/30/20

To the men in my area

I’m tired of writing about this

I’m tired of writing this

I’m tired of being handed material

J’Anna-Mare Lue (劉家明) 10/30/20 J’Anna-Mare Lue (劉家明) 10/30/20

these burdens that I carry

everything destroyed in reverence of a new god, an unfamiliar god, they called him money. this god had power unlike any my people knew before, and to how my grandfather told it - it demanded servitude, offerings, and sacrifice like no other. It was an angry god.

Anella D. Shillingford 10/30/20 Anella D. Shillingford 10/30/20

I Am Woman.

I know my rights.

I know my strengths.

I know my history.

Aidan R. 10/30/20 Aidan R. 10/30/20

Intersections of fate

Reyna was 21, but looked and to some extent felt 16; like she hadn’t matured a day beyond the age she discovered the “oddness,” she sensed about herself, had a name.

Jacinth Browne-Howard 10/30/20 Jacinth Browne-Howard 10/30/20

Becoming Rage

Tantie Mary say that since me feel me a big woman now, to gwan and don’t comeback. The words still ring in my head three weeks later. My last image of Hibiscus Road featured the woman who raised me.