Black Voices
-
October 9, 2020 |
Photo by Nebojsa Mladjenovic / Flickr Series editor’s note: In Chris Abani’s poem “Ritual Is Journey,” the black man has been laid bare on the page, his histories refocused, and thoug... -
October 2, 2020 |
Detail from a photograph of the author’s great-great-grandmother and a photograph of her mother, age eleven. Image courtesy of the author Series editor’s note: In Aracelis Girmay’s ne... -
September 23, 2020 |
Nina Simone Sings the Blues (RCA Victor, 1967) Series editor’s note: In Jamaica Baldwin’s “Windfall,” the self is buried beneath layers and layers of internalized memories, b... -
September 11, 2020 |
“Girl and a Margin” Image: Ladan Osman. Collage: Joe Penney. Series editor’s note: In Ladan Osman’s piece “Dark Matter Girls,” the poet quietly asks herself, and by extension us, how... -
August 26, 2020 |
Photo by Daniel McCullough / Unsplash Series editor’s note: What happens in the aftermath of a long, ravaging war? What happens to folks whose country is always at war with them? Thes... -
August 19, 2020 |
Photo by Jeremy Thomas / Unsplash Series editor’s note: In Major Jackson’s new poem, “Think of Me, Laughing,” we meet a speaker who is well-acquainted with the habits of sorrow of inh... -
August 13, 2020 |
Photo by Jo / Flickr Series editor’s note: In Ashia Ajani’s poem “Running,” the Black body finds itself outdoors, not as a means of escape, rather as a place of exodus, where it can s... -
August 5, 2020 |
Photo by Mitchell Luo / Unsplash Series editor’s note: In Saddiq Dzukogi’s new poem, the speaker observes as a snake shows up unannounced, unsummoned, and sluggishly inserts its head... -
July 22, 2020 |
Photo by Erda Estremera / Unsplash Series editor’s note: What does it mean for a body to remember its feeding, to have to reckon with its darkest days, days spent eating weeds in the... -
July 15, 2020 |
Photo by Dustin Humes on Unsplash Series editor’s note: I’ve always thought of poetry as a sacred ground to think and write about things we wouldn’t normally do. And in the case of Sa... -
July 8, 2020 |
"Abstract Yellow Cliffs," Acrylics, 73x50cm by Kazuya Akimoto. Used with permission from the artist. Series editor’s note: In Matthew Shenoda’s new poem, “Seeing,” the writer turns to... -
June 24, 2020 |
Photo by Koshu Kunii / Unsplash Series editor’s note: Kwame Dawes’s poem is a powerful piece to start off the Black Voices series, and one that fits perfectly into the outrage of the... -
June 24, 2020 |
Photo by Mahtem Shiferraw In the aftermath of the senseless deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, Breonna Taylor, and many others before them, it is difficult to think we can sti...
WLT Weekly Categories
Recent Posts
Michael Berry is a professor of Asian languages and cultures and director of the Center for Chinese Studies at UCLA. He has published...
Photo by Oscar Sutton / Unsplash
During quarantine, a poet, essayist, and aphorist returns to the aphorism, the “sushi of literature.”...
On a visit to an Oklahoma City bookstore, Alex Crayon finds more than books.
When I pulled into the snow-covered parking lot of Nappy Roots...
Photo by Russ Morris / Flickr
Some may live just a block away,
even nearer: the Walmart clerk
who’d coolly hook a hot wire
to your gonads...
Photo by Tyler Quiring / Unsplash
Ismail Kadare has a remarkable quality of saying a great deal and with much clarity, but in an elusive...
