“To be published as a ‘woman of color’ makes me squiggle on a pin: I want to be read by white people, and not just white people who are interested in ‘black’ writing. I want even my speaking about color to speak in some universal way.” –Toi Derricotte
“I shut my ears, averted my eyes, turning instead to what I thought at the time was pain’s antidote: silence. I was wrong… Silence feeds pain, allows it to fester and thrive. What starves pain, what forces it to release its grip, is speech, the voice upon which rides the story, this is what happened; this is what I have refused to let claim me.” –Tracy K. Smith
“I have always loved the feel of books, the way they give a literal weight to words and make of them a sacred object.” –Natasha Tretheway
I used to be a priest in the Church of Poetry. I had 60-80 parishioners per semester, mostly young people with varying dedication to Poetry. Some entered the classroom having only worshipped […]
“I had a lot of hatred, but I realized that kind of hate didn’t do much.
I had to start feuling myself with pride. We owe the ancestors that. So many of the souls who died ion bondage just want us to recognize their struggle.” –Marilyn Nelson and Tonya C. Hegamin
“A lot of people refuse to do things because they don’t want to go naked, don’t want to go without guarantee. But that’s what’s got to happen. You go naked until you die.” –Nikki Giovanni
“If your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, then, you are an excellent leader.”—Dolly Parton
When people doubt your right to be somewhere, the responsibility falls on you to prove over and over again that you deserve to be there.–Stacey Abrams
I never expect much fanfare on my birthday. I wasn’t raised to expect it. My parents were practical, sober, working class people, stable but not particularly affluent. Some years my mom made […]
“If you stay alive for no other reason at all, please do it for spite.” – Maria Bamford, Comedian
