I have never taken a walk in the woods on a snowy evening, and frankly, I don’t care to. Poetry knew nothing about me, was irrelevant to me. Poetry wasn’t meant for a regular Black girl. I thought, as many do, that Poetry (capital P), is Robert Frost, William Wordsworth, maybe Emily Dickinson or Sylvia Plath. Look: I almost didn’t write poetry, almost went my whole life hating it. I’m in love with the fact that each of them are alive writing now, writing with fierce commitment to language- to poetry- and all of its possibilities. They’ve grown out of the experiences and brilliant minds of poets from Los Angeles, the South, the Bronx, and Salt Lake City, who span multiple decades, sensibilities, histories, futures.
The incredible poems below are fly, subtle, wild, soft, cutting. We, as poet Walt Whitman wrote (of himself- with the confidence of a white man, no offense to dear Walt, specifically), “contain multitudes.” Contradictions, colors, varieties, inventions. What amazes me about my sisters is we’re infinite. Then, before I can correct myself, a Black woman does something that is so incredibly graceful, surprising, loving, disturbing, or fearless that takes the breath out of my chest. (Feb.Sometimes I think, Black women are the best of people. Agent: Dan Kirschen and Tina Wexler, ICM. Parker writes, “I’d miss my booty/ in your butt/ would hate/ to reach back/ and find history/ borrowed not branded.” She also examines self-doubt in the roiling poem “The President’s Wife,” wondering “What does beautiful cost do I afford it/ Do I roll off the tongue/ Is America going to be sick.” Parker’s poems are as flame-forged as a chain locked around soft ankles. In “ Freaky Friday Starring Beyoncé and Lady Gaga,” the two pop stars are posed not as adversaries but as host and parasite Lady Gaga becomes a metaphor for white supremacy’s theft of black culture and its compulsion to discredit black genius. It’s a representative example of Parker’s vision of how a woman’s identity can be shaped by the labels forced upon her. Her word choices-“sex,” “sassy,” “low-income,” “mean,” “exotic,” etc.-emphasize the way that black women are dehumanized and objectified through language. In “13 Ways of Looking at a Black Girl,” Parker reflects the rippling noise facilitated by patriarchy and white supremacy. Employing fierce language and eschewing fear of unflattering light, Parker ( Other People’s Comfort Keeps Me Up at Night) pays homage to the deep roots and collective wisdom of black womanhood.
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