As I previously mentioned, all of the sessions I attended at the Association of Writers & Writing Programs Conference (AWP) were amazing. There was even a panel where all the writers had the nerve to be monotone on top of what was a kind of indifference to being perceived by all of us in the audience. It gave, we do words not public speaking! In fact, I haven't been in a room with that many gaps of silence since my required stats class in college. And despite all of that, the advice they shared on craft and creating meaning through stories was invaluable. But to my surprise, the sessions that opened my heart the most as a storyteller were on poetry.
After having a moment in college where I aggressively consumed damn near every Def Poetry Jam clip on Youtube, I decided to venture out and go to slam poetry nights in person. The experience backfired and gave me an instant disdain to live slam poetry because of how many men you will be forced to listen to at open mics talk about Black women wombs as the motherland and making cheating sound lyrical. It would be years before I would discover that I do enjoy hearing people recite poetry out loud…especially when there are close to no men participating.
The first session on poetry I attended was entitled “That Thin Fire Racing Under Skin: Writing Sapphic Desire” which was right up my alley. Each panelist read their work or work they admired that spoke to the theme of desire between or from women. Receiving the poems as they dripped into the space from the lips of each poet was very sexy, even in a beige conference room drenched in harsh lighting. As I listened, I grasped that my favorite kind of music is made this way—through the poetics of love and desire. Music is an important part of my creative process especially as I allow myself to grow as a Black lesbian writer who loves loving and writing about Black women. I use music as a tool for divination and to access a specific feeling I want to achieve when I’m writing or curating stories as I have also written about to you all here. Music helps me feel through what I want to say as I allow myself to grow into just saying the thing.
Similar to someone playing a song for you, there is something so special and deeply romantic about being read to. It felt luxurious and sensual to hear the writers read lines of poetry about the sex they were having and the love they were receiving aloud. A type of performance I haven’t felt moved by since I was an undergrad student in Pittsburgh when the Shadow Lounge was open and still a place for indie culture, live performances, and dancing instead of a painfully gentrified pizza shop/wine bar. Every line of poetry that was read by the panelists was about love and desire instead of the tortured queer poetry I’m used to hearing people try out at open mics. It was nice to just be in the nuances of queer love making and desire. There’s nothing wrong with poetry to tackles other very worthy topics. But I need to hear the love right now. I want to read about how we still manage to find a way to undress each other and connect in these times.
I was also introduced to ekphrastic poetry through a panel entitled “The Black Ekphrastic Mode”. Ekphrastic poetry are poems written about works of art. And this panel was made up of Black poets who wrote poetry about Black art. As an image of Kara Walker’s piece “no world” was projected, Malika Booker read the poem Kara Walker commissioned her to write for the piece. I should have taken better notes because this information has been very hard to search and confirm online, but I believe the poem was entitled “Libation”. While the reading was happening, I felt like I floated above myself, lovestruck by the entire experience. Because of this introduction, I will forever understand ekphrastic poetry as a literary device created by Black people.
Overall, these two sessions have encouraged me to make time in my reading flow for more poetry. At the AWP Book Fair I picked up some texts published by Lost & Found: The Cuny Poetics Document Initiative, which included “Realizing The Dream of A Black University” & Other Writings, and “Life Studies,” 1966-1976 by June Jordan. I also grabbed “Instructions for The Lovers” by Dawn Lundy Martin and “u know how much i hate being alone in social situations” by Stephon Lawrence. As I do with anything I become newly obsessed with, I took to my Instagram stories community for recommendations on contemporary Black poets I should add to my rotation.
Here’s what we came up with:
Bodies of Work
Gumbo Ya Ya! By Aurielle Marie
Good Dress by Brittany Rogers
Bluff by Danez Smith
Sons of Achilles by Nabila Lovelace
We Want It All: An Anthology of Radical Trans Poets edited by Andrea Abi-Karam and Kay Gabriel
River Hymns by Tyree Daye
love conjure/blues by Sharon Bridgforth
Dandelions by Roy Kinsey
Survival is a Promise by Alexis Pauline Gumbs
Rifqa by Mohammed el-Kurd
Poets To Get To Know
Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
Saida Agostini
Roy Kinsey
Nathaniel Mackey
Amari Amai
Fanta Ballo
Pat Parker
R. Erica Doyle
Fady Joudah
Dionne Brand
Anaïs Duplan
Saeed Jones
Layli Long Soldier
Maneo Mohale
Koleka Putuma
Danai Mupotsa
Lebohang Mojapelo
Jericho Brown
Staceyann Chin
Dr. Meghan Green
Bettina Judd
Harryette Mullen
Donika Kelly
So there! I made good on my promise to share the poets that were recommended and to put these recommendations in a place I can easily revisit. Since this list was sourced with the help of my community, this piece will remain free and accessible. AS always, if you are able and appreciate this labor of love and curiosity, consider supporting my longevity as a writer by becoming a paid subscriber!
Enjoy your discovery process because I have certainly been enjoying mine! I want to know which of these books or writers moved you and why. What did they make you feel? Did they open up any new possibilities for how you’re living your life and/or developing your craft…whatever that craft might be?
For me, I’m glad I was able to share these resources because I am being inspired to expand what type of writing I’m willing to tackle and publish here on Toxic Femininity. Which is the whole point of even being here for me. I’m looking forward to seeing how this all unfolds but especially excited for it to get a bit more sexy over here!