UPDATE: Results announced motifri.com/youth-poet-2022-results Seeking a youth poetry ambassador for 2022, the RI Center for the Book invites applications from high school students who reside in RI. State Poet Laureate Tina Cane will select an ambassador and deputy ambassador with results announced in January 2022. “This initiative is designed to bring more poetry directly to […]
by Isaiah “Sleeping Turtle” Johnson The cloudy sky in my waking eyes is adorned with blue, gray, and white. The yellow sun blazed in full as I lay in the grass. Bodies of the Indigenous flooded the water. The Great Eagle soared the heavens as the eye of the storm opened at Manitou’s whim. I […]
He planned to fashion wind chimesfrom their chipped long bones and dried sinews.So many years spent in preparation —he imagined the night breezes of autumnproducing a wild dark dance betweenulna, femur, and radius.An elegy, a lament, a lullaby. And he did. In unlit cornersof his soundless basement. He carved,drilled, screwed, and strung.But […]
Imagine Finding yourself Being pulled underwater. The current taking you out Into the deep. You Try your best To paddle your feet to the surface. Gasping Gagging Eyes bulging for oxygen. And the weight of your ankles Never have the strength To shake off the anchors Holding you down. The chain of subjection. The more […]
(Sung) Sister, You’ve been on my mind Sister, we’re two of a kind So sister, I’m keepin’ my eyes on you I betcha think I don’t know nothin’ But singin’ the blues Oh sister, have I got news for you I’m somethin’ I hope you think That you’re somethin’ too (Spoken) You are something, more […]
I recently had the opportunity to interview two amazing educators at the Providence Academy Middle School, Andreana Thomas and Phoenyx Williams. This is the second in a two-part series of interviews that will take you on a journey through Black joy, Black culture, educational struggles and more using film, poetry, and education as the tools […]
I recently had the opportunity to interview two amazing educators at the Providence Academy Middle School, Andreana Thomas and Phoenyx Williams. This is the first part in a two-part series of interviews that will take you on a journey through black joy, black culture, educational struggles and more using film, poetry, and education as the […]
Teens, poetry and excitement seem like an unlikely combination – but therein lies the magic of Poetry Out Loud. Since 2005, the program has been engaging new generations of students to not only read, but to embrace the rich legacy of this art form by competing to recite a poem, thereby making it their own. […]
A small gift Something we say about a heartfelt present Or used to describe one that provides, guides and uplifts My mama Educates My mama Motivates As of late you have been that *constant* Keeping me rooted in faith Encouraging me to stay in the race Like a lioness stalks her prey, You chase the […]
ONLY A BLACK WOMAN Can take a week of leftover scraps and make a gourmet meal Can cuss a man out, then make love to him that night and make him feel like a king. Can wear a burgundy French roll, 3-inch heels and a split up her thigh to work and make it look […]