"Where does one begin a book? After 'The Body Distances,' I wasn't sure where to begin. I'm grateful to Beth Ann Fennelly for choosing my poems and awarding me the Summer Poet in Residence at Ole Miss. A summer in Oxford, Mississippi, provided a startling landscape and inspired the vision and structure behind both this poem and 'Southern Tongues.'"
Michael Bazzett introduces his favorite poet, Lucille Clifton, through the short poem, "why some people be mad at me sometimes." "Her poems have a way of sidling up to you and whispering their sly and cutting wisdom into your ear and then wandering off before you know what hit you."
Resources for Supporting and Uplifting the Black Community
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights: "Through advocacy and outreach to targeted constituencies, The Leadership Conference works toward the goal of a more open and just society – an America as good as its ideals. It was founded in 1950 and has coordinated national lobbying efforts on behalf of every major civil rights law since 1957."
Black Emotional and Mental Health: "We are a collective of advocates, yoga teachers, artists, therapists, lawyers, religious leaders, teachers, psychologists and activists committed to the emotional/mental health and healing of Black communities."
Sister Song: "SisterSong’s mission is to strengthen and amplify the collective voices of indigenous women and women of color to achieve reproductive justice by eradicating reproductive oppression and securing human rights."
Poetry Daily stands with the Black community. We oppose racism, oppression, and police brutality. We will continue to amplify diverse voices in the poetry world. Black Lives Matter.
"I thought about the future—and the shores my daughter would stand on—every time we played in water. Play with a young child is always about the objects themselves, but at the same time always seems somehow allegorical. A story unfolds. Ideas about the world are exposed: Rub-a-dub-dub, three men in a tub…."
