If there is one thing, I have learned from reading black poets and studying black history is that we are a strong people. Lyrics, beats, rhythm and words are the black community’s inheritance at least that is what I believe. We were not just stranded or left by God, no; we were given so much more, so much intelligence and talent. We were not just given or “forced” religion: but poetry. Brion Gill, a Baltimore poet and activist, in her poem “When the Novelty Nullifies,” says she is not a proponent of comfortable poetry but truthful poetry. I like the idea of that because the truth of who we are as a community, a people, our differences, our fight, and our freedom lies in this poetry. The work of Brion Gill and Audre Lorde inspires me every day and I think Audre Lorde says it best when she says, “Without community there is no liberation,” as she also goes on to write that even within communities there is a sharing of differences. (Quote taken from “The Master’s Tools will never dismantle the Master’s house).
These words are tools.
My words are tools.
Sharp and cutting I swing
Like biting fire and wet rain
I like the sound of a tongue
Rolling against my back molars
I am ready to swing past all problems
Past the pain,
For my country,
For my freedom.
I am magic; realized
like Audre Lorde calling
me by name; I am poor,
I am black, I am fat
I AM HAPPY.
Poetry is a revolution.
There are secrets inside of my poetry.
Inside my speak, my language.
It is the inner cochlea to my experiences
The root to my slave great-grandmother
And my ticket to my motherland talk;
Now say with me, not against me;
West Africa.
Where I was born needed a lense
A way to profess love.
A way to tell a story.
A way to steal without stealing;
A way to educate the uneducated.
It is poetry.
It can be you.
In reference to the power of poetry, Audre Lorde’s piece entitled, “Poetry is not a Luxury,” is the most eloquent and masterful extrapolation of that concept. She writes, “For women, then, poetry is not a luxury. It is a vital necessity of our existence. It forms the quality of the light within which we predicate our hopes and dreams towards survival and change, made first made into language, then into idea, then into more tangible action” (Lorde 37). I love this quote because it captures everything that is true for every poet, especially those within marginalized or oppressed groups. There is a hidden cocoon inside of poetry itself that gives life and a sense of belonging to the person writing and reading it. Another instance of a modern day poet who encapsulates this as well is hearing the poetry of Tameka Cage Conley, a Baltimore poet at the #RiseBaltimore event. She dedicated her poetry to the black bodies slain by police brutality and talks about how poetry saved her; “I needed to write, to have a place to pour my grief and longing for justice” (Tameka Cage Conley).
Faith Maya Owhonda
These words are tools.
My words are tools.
Sharp and cutting I swing
Like biting fire and wet rain
I like the sound of a tongue
Rolling against my back molars
I am ready to swing past all problems
Past the pain,
For my country,
For my freedom.
I am magic; realized
like Audre Lorde calling
me by name; I am poor,
I am black, I am fat
I AM HAPPY.
Poetry is a revolution.
There are secrets inside of my poetry.
Inside my speak, my language.
It is the inner cochlea to my experiences
The root to my slave great-grandmother
And my ticket to my motherland talk;
Now say with me, not against me;
West Africa.
Where I was born needed a lense
A way to profess love.
A way to tell a story.
A way to steal without stealing;
A way to educate the uneducated.
It is poetry.
It can be you.
In reference to the power of poetry, Audre Lorde’s piece entitled, “Poetry is not a Luxury,” is the most eloquent and masterful extrapolation of that concept. She writes, “For women, then, poetry is not a luxury. It is a vital necessity of our existence. It forms the quality of the light within which we predicate our hopes and dreams towards survival and change, made first made into language, then into idea, then into more tangible action” (Lorde 37). I love this quote because it captures everything that is true for every poet, especially those within marginalized or oppressed groups. There is a hidden cocoon inside of poetry itself that gives life and a sense of belonging to the person writing and reading it. Another instance of a modern day poet who encapsulates this as well is hearing the poetry of Tameka Cage Conley, a Baltimore poet at the #RiseBaltimore event. She dedicated her poetry to the black bodies slain by police brutality and talks about how poetry saved her; “I needed to write, to have a place to pour my grief and longing for justice” (Tameka Cage Conley).
Faith Maya Owhonda
RSS Feed
