“a song flung up to heaven”: a poem for Maya Angelou
Today is Maya Angelou’s birthday. Continue reading “a song flung up to heaven”: a poem for Maya Angelou
Author: Kendra N. Bryant
I teach peace, & I write poetry.
shet the hell up!: on the media being itself
I’ve been steady pondering, damn near fuming about, media’s use of the terms “protest,” “terrorist,” “patriot,” “American,” “citizen,” & “democracy” & how carelessly mainstream reporters have exclaimed, emphatically so, their bewilderment, their upset, their absolute fear re: those white folks’—their kinfolks’—uprising, which too many of them keep calling a protest (& sloppily comparing to Black Lives Matter movements). Continue reading shet the hell up!: on the media being itself
Nobody but you, Lord (& Alice Walker & Kanye West)
We are in a pandemic. I am in a pandemic. I am in a global pandemic. I am in a global pandemic w/7.5 billion other human beings–& w/the exception of the Black & Brown people who are at higher rates of contracting, being hospitalized by, & dying from COVID-19, this corona virus gives zero fvks about race, class, gender, age, ableism, political affiliation, you fill-in-the-blank. … Continue reading Nobody but you, Lord (& Alice Walker & Kanye West)
my first response to Biden & Harris’ appointments
Note: The below work is excerpted from an epistolary essay I wrote for the Race, Equity, & Education course I am taking with Dr. Kathy Hytten of University of North Carolina-Greensboro (UNCG). It includes references to Eddie Glaude‘s Democracy in Black and Joel Olson‘s The Abolition of White Democracy–which I suggest everyone read, especially during this tumultuous, yet promising, political time. 7 November 2020, 1230p … Continue reading my first response to Biden & Harris’ appointments
“What a friend we have in Jesus” (& Nikki): A musing response to Nikki Giovanni’s “A Good Cry”
I turned myself into myself and wasjesusmen intone my loving nameAll praises All praisesI am the one who would save —Nikki Giovanni, “Ego Tripping (There May Be a Reason Why)” Jesus wept. (John 11:35) I find Jesus and Nikki to be quite similar, maybe even one and the same. Admittedly, however, I don’t know either that well. But I think I know enuf about them to make such … Continue reading “What a friend we have in Jesus” (& Nikki): A musing response to Nikki Giovanni’s “A Good Cry”
“Killing Rage”: Looking for the in between while Reflecting on Race, Racism, Whiteness, and White Rage
“White rage is acceptable, can be both expressed and condoned, but black rage has no place and everyone knows it.” –bell hooks, “Killing Rage,” 1995 “White rage is not about visible violence, but rather it works its way through the courts, the legislatures, and a range of government bureaucracies . . . the trigger for white rage, inevitably, is black advancement.” –Carol Anderson, “Kindling,” 2016 … Continue reading “Killing Rage”: Looking for the in between while Reflecting on Race, Racism, Whiteness, and White Rage
in Defense of Andrew Gillum: Come on Black People
I am 41. I am unwed, & the older I get, the more I am opposed to what appears—in its traditional sense—to be a narrowed, confining arrangement wherein too many folks are lonely, depressed, & unfulfilled; too many married people are unhappy people. Aaaaaaaand, considering America’s marriage is born from a white racist imperialist supremacist capitalist patriarchy—that just opened itself to LGBTQ+ persons—I’m str8 on … Continue reading in Defense of Andrew Gillum: Come on Black People
We, the (Black) People: Contemplating America’s Democracy amid Two+ Pandemics
Since middle school, I was a “revolutionary with no cause,” said my daddy—who apparently was amused by (or weary of) my dashiki wearing, Black nationalist poetry writing, presiding member of the Afro-American Heritage Club and NAACP Youth Council daughter of his who participated in Black History Brain Bowls, Theodore Gibson Oratorical Contests, and high school step shows. I was a “revolutionary with no cause,” he … Continue reading We, the (Black) People: Contemplating America’s Democracy amid Two+ Pandemics
I’m sick an’ tired (of white folks)
I know I’m not the only one carrying absolute exhaustion toward all of white America for their overwhelming performance re: this year’s Black Lives Matter Movement. I’m so tired of receiving emails from corporate America’s CEOs claiming to support the Black Lives Matter Movement–to being culturally sensitive & aware & intolerant of the racism (& classism & sexism & homophobia) that have been cornerstones maintaining … Continue reading I’m sick an’ tired (of white folks)
My Daddy, My Mammy: A Black Man Doing Black Feminism
Hands down: James Weldon Johnson’s “The Creation,” his 1927 poetic retelling of the Biblical Genesis story, is one of the best renditions of the Creation story ever written (& performed by Black children in somebody’s Black History program). His entire piece is imaginatively breath-taking. However, what I find to be the most beautiful stanza in Johnson’s narrative poem is his second to last, in which … Continue reading My Daddy, My Mammy: A Black Man Doing Black Feminism
