Quiet 1 With Eyes by M. Nzadi Keita
“Quiet 1 With Eyes” by M. Nzadi Keita with eyes My husband oversees the world up front where all the parlor-talk is Congress and North Star and Harper’s and what they Know is only what they Read. When I pass, The Readers squint into my mouth. with eyes that you could use to sharpen something. I watch him worry. watch him when I raise my brow watch his eyes burn off my work...
Stirring by M. Nzadi Keita
“Stirring” by M. Nzadi Keita “Being herself one of the first agents of the Underground Railroad, [mother] was an untiring worker…” Rosetta Douglass Sprague By now their breath has thawed; they’re drunk on sleep. A trouser-wearing woman with one hand just sits. Her mouth stays fixed on calling “Cille“– her daughter’s dead name rubbed to burlap strands. A boy whose rough low singing charms the room stands...
The Summer Lolly by Breena Clarke
“The Summer Lolly” by Breena Clarke Cleary took rooms in a cottage at the seaside. I was sick in the worst way since I heard what happened to the preacher woman. I cried, and he threatened me. He said he would leave me and, at first, I wished he would. But I beg him not to leave me off nowhere. He says, “Be a good, quiet, brave girl. I’ma take you for a turn by the sea.” Cleary ain’t no weak man. He can...
Power by Susan Eisenberg
“Power” by Susan Eisenberg While her classmates cut in panels, bent pipe, worked from blueprints, the black girl ran for coffee, rustled stock, drilled ceiling anchors by the mile, and swept the shanty out; often worked alone. So, when she was paired with a crackerjack mechanic, a brother, and the foreman asked how they’d like to disconnect a transformer, high voltage, placing the cutters in her palms, she...
Aunt Jemima, Eleanor Bumpers, and Sandra Bland by Breena Clarke
“Aunt Jemima, Eleanor Bumpers, and Sandra Bland” by Breena Clarke “Re/Membering Aunt Jemima: A Menstrual Show” by Breena Clarke and Glenda Dickerson[1] Frankly, I never thought I’d be updating “Re/Membering Aunt Jemima: A Menstrual Show” or even seriously reconsidering it. I had not read it in at least ten years if not longer. Written more than twenty-five years ago, the play contains topical references that...
Abnegation by Cynthia Reeser
That it should not be mine, or yours, or yours. Denial becomes a habit. Some get used to hearing no, expect nothing more. It says: you can’t have it, you can’t do it, it’s not good enough, you can do better, or wait, no you can’t. It says: you have to be chosen. It says: (regardless of merit). ____________________ Share your response to this work, in any form, here Cynthia Reeser Artist Statement:...
I have not yet written a single page by daylight.
Harriet Jacobs
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