#black poems

[iridessence]

source: To a Dusky Maiden, the Pittsburgh Courier, August 6th, 1927.

[cocoabuttavasa]

in the same space/fundamental connection 🫂

24/09/2023

[cultlifecollective-blog]

BREATH OF FRESH AIR

[jasminesuntrell]

No More Fucking Butterflies (19/30)

I have decided the next man I meet who makes me nervous is getting blocked, walked away from- I'll run if I have to. No conversation, no glances, no more whirlwind romances, I'm not giving chances. I'm through.

Who the hell decided butterflies in the tummy was something to romanticize in the first place? For me, I think it's my body trying to tell me to get as far as I can from this demonic creature who will only cause me harm but I kept thinking it's a good thing if his presence can make me stumble over words.

Hell no.

Neutrality is the way to go. The man you're mostly unaware of until he gives you good reasons to be. The one who doesn’t prey on the unbalanced chemical reaction that happens when you lay eyes on him.

And maybe the love story won't be the stuff of an indie romance film but it will be stable and real. It won't give you more material from which to heal. It will provide you with bliss more enduring than the intoxications of fleeting butterflies.

[lezzyneverland]

by Jasmine Mans.

[blackpoetry]

Untitled #2 (for MTV Black History Month 2001)

Can't do that dance anymore It doesn't fit my size, never did I'm too big to do that dance Always was too pretty Won't shuck and jive Not gonna coon Not I Too many ancestors' tear stains on my face Too many claps and hallelujahs under my belt Not for anybody's enjoyment Not for anybody's money Green or long Pound or euro Not for you Not I I don't have time to do that dance There aren't libraries in my baby's school Playgrounds filled with glass Teachers who are waiting for me to show up And I will . on time

You won't catch me doing that dance Not in this honey dwelling I live here My mother and God designed this for me Just enough cinnamon (blow a kiss) Just enough nutmeg (blow a kiss) Stirred me in a pot Listened for the timing bell Ring and I am ready Bite me when I'm cool

Bite me again when I'm not Bite me all you want because I've got more and some more and some more And I will not do that dance Not for you Not for you Too much to do that dance And I am way too pretty

Written by Jill Scott Courtesy of; https://www.afropoets.net/jillscott.html

[observantnotions]

A Spoken Word piece I created sometime last week🖤🎤

[slimbug]

Black Trauma Porn by ✨me✨

[the-garden-of-electric-light]

The Science of Cameras IV.  It’s the flash  That blinds you--  The bright pulse.  The harsh, white light  Is all you need  To lose yourself  Or fall in love. 

[inmyperfectworld]

"Misjudged Love" ✍🏾

This is based around (or inspired) by "I'll Find A Way" by Blu Cantrell.

Her lyric from this song, "'Cause what hurts today, in time will fade away" has been stuck in my head and won't leave lol, so I decided to use it and make a poem/prose version around it and the song altogether.

[trixiedjinn]

Your "peace" is chilling

On it, malice skates.

My little fire is but an ember, but bright

And she deserves her rage.

For this fury is mine and it will not subside

I will not "heal."

Keep your complacent ice.

[emotionallylaboredwords]

Untitled #18

If I had to do it all over again, I would love you. I would love deeply with all the fibers of my being. I would love you more than all the words ever written about love. My heart would never break because your love is the armor. Your love is my safest place besides the thoughts of my mind. Your love heals and transforms the terrors of my past. Your love transcends the fickle love I once knew. And I would love you. More than the vibration when the oceans meets the sea. And I would love you. More than a child unaware of the inequities of the world, with the ability to love freely. I would you more than the unknown. And I would love you. 

-Jocelyn B.

[cocoabuttavasa]

Aché🫂

30/12/23

with love,

B 🫀

[crystal-charlotte-lynch]

A new blackout poem “Untitled”

By Crystal Charlotte Lynch

All you love enclosed

A gift either way

take pride

#poem #poetry #poet #poetrycommunity #blackoutpoetry #blackout #erasurepoetry #erasure

[jasminesuntrell]

En Gratitud

I've been meaning to saunter my way back to this space but I always hesitate- Mostly because I have everything yet nothing I want to say and I'm often afraid of the words my brain amalgamates in haste. But, whoever you are wherever you are whatever you aren't- You are appreciated. The knowing that on any given day an unknown person out there might be reading these poems I write as an act of radical self-love, self-care, healing, resistance, resurrection, both medicine and illness, but mostly in hopes to understand and be understood could be out there understanding and being understood too helps me to feel I have done more than merely exist. For that feeling, I am immensely grateful.

[yahkar]

April 5th

Flakes fall in April against snow capped mountain tops

Long coats over thermals to match the wool lined socks

The peace of early day as sunrise paints the backdrop

Just me and Yah, sitting with my coffee pot

Another year down, can't say the devil fight fair

A couple storms here and there

A couple liars everywhere

Drove me to the point to make realize I don't even care

When you turn nothing into something all you gain is hot air

Had to pivot with intentions

Neither is even worth the mention

Found out it wasn't mine by extension

So all the hate turned into pretension

In all ways I'm at my fault

Just what the lesson taught

Should have played it with my head

Instead of 808'n with my heart

Through it all I grant forgiveness

Grace and Mercy for the misfits

Sent up a call for some peace

Then Yah picked up my business

Now as I face the East

I raise my hands towards the light

Even when they do me wrong

I will choose to steer them right

Though tomorrow is not promised

More years to come in better ways

More years to come in brighter waves

I Thank You Yah for My Story

All Glory to the Ancient of Days

-Yahkar