As I strolled down a thriving and sundrenched Wickenden Street this past weekend and made my way toward Coffee Exchange to meet Vladimir Jean, the curator of PVD’s Afroverse and a nominee for the 2025 RI Spoken Awards, I stumbled upon our subject standing outside the coffee shop snapping impromptu photos of the blissful spring […]
Fernando Pessoa, early 20th-century Portuguese poet, is famous for the creation of his three literary personas, or heteronyms. Pessoa wrote under these heteronyms to not only distance the act of writing poetry, but as a tool of identity and perception; that poetry, as is any art form, creates another self divisible by its creator, and […]
Poet and illustrator Jess Rizkallah of Boston begins her poem, “in another dimension i am a good daughter” with: i wake up early / i sweep the floor / i put coffee on the nar my arabic is serpentine / through dirt / ready to strike / yet i slice apples in silence / as […]
Writing Prompt in Which a Bird Looks Down at What I Call My Autobiography For Lucile Clifton Hey girl! Why is everything all covered in tarps? I see the shapes of a table filled to the corners pressed against all that canvas. Cornucopias hidden flavors and sound acid and salt all tucked and stuffed and […]
The seas are wicked now like the thoughts in a crazy man’s mind. Soon the baby will sleep again so soft and innocent. In time the little one will grow, and learn to be furious at the ways of the world. But with maturity life will calm again. The child is simple and very impressionable. […]
Somewhere in Providence there is a painting. I want it. * In this coffeeshop there are sculptures, which are flat and look like paintings but are not. Today I visited an art gallery, which is located in a building where I hope to live but many people want to live, so I can’t. * A […]
THE ABYSSAL WOMB, THE FETID WORLD OF COLONIALITY’S CAPTURE As the heavy sloshing of horses’ hooves grows ever closer, and the wailing of her child grows ever louder, she, an indigenous Kalinago woman fleeing through a mangrove swamp from her white husband’s plantation, makes a choice. Gently, slowly, she submerges the newborn’s head into the […]
I dig you! Like the impassioned hands of a gard’ner surrendering to the earth. I fuxs with you! Like, the sugary, spicy blend of nutmeg and brown sugar in sweet potato pie Like, the buttery noodles wrapped in a soulful hug of perfectly blended cheeses The first dishes to disappear at a Black family cookout. […]
Amidst numerous up-and-coming open mics in Rhode Island, the Providence Poetry Slam (ProvSlam) remains one of the largest and longest-running slams in US history. Co-founded in 1992 by nationally renowned author and slam poet Patricia Smith, ProvSlam is an undeniable example of how Blackness is an integral part of Providence’s lavish history. Over recent years, […]
Synesthesia First date/ Boy tells girl she is strawberries and mint and/ Sometimesmusic tastes bad/ His brother doesn’t know he is oranges/ The datecontinues point and tell/ What does the bartender taste like?/ Thecouch?/ Elvis?/ Madonna?/ She only doubts when he says Cher iscotton candy/ And purple is bubble gum/ She asks if citrus runs […]