As published in Kweli Journal’s Black Girlhood Issue – My gratitude to Laura & crew for selecting it. Sunup to sundown, a hundred shades of Black girl beauty. Caramel & pecan-colored, rays springing from our lips, mouths full as golden balloons, sweet as Jolly Ranchers. Sugar bubble gum breath, tongues grape purple, hair deep brown […]
A Letter to my Nieces & Nephews on Ella Baker’s Birthday
My loves, One of the greatest Black women poets of our time, Lucille Clifton, is not frequently taught in schools — or at least not taught enough. Her poem, song at midnight, contains a line you may have seen on the internet, in part. We like to circulate it among ourselves as a clarion call, […]
Summer Music & Magic
I’ve been more quiet than usual because I’ve been dusting off my photography/summer counselor skills at Jewish surf camp (!) [more on that later, obviously] interviewing my share of incredible writers for Kirkus Reviews, reading and watching and reporting all of kinds of other things for other stories, finishing up my work in progress draft, […]
Poem: For writers
Do not wait for validation the language at war with currency. Feast instead on self possession & poems: The stories of the ones before us, The dreams of our descendants. Narratives that remind our hearts how to soar. No one is coming to proclaim your talent rough or refined. You are your only true […]
Joshunda Sanders 