This poem was written at Le Maison’s Baldwin’s conference on James Baldwin, a gathering for black writers in Paris. We were lucky enough to visit the Faith Ringgold retrospective at the Picasso Museum. This lyric was born from the artist’s name doubling as the concept of faith; the elements, specifically water in the form of Paris’s persistent rain; and the exploration of lineage, violence and grief as experienced in Ringgold’s work.
Alafia Nicole Sessions on "My Faith Unfolds Itself" |
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Writers Tour the Frontlines of Southern Ukraine
“I am looking from the stage at hundreds of faces with shining eyes and thinking again about the amazing popularity of modern Ukrainian poetry in our nation, especially in those cities that Russian propaganda tries to label as 'purely Russian'. I’ve travelled to the frontline cities a lot, but I’m still surprised by the large audiences here. As well as students and local intellectuals, readings are always attended by soldiers, combat medics, military volunteers. And all this speaks not only about the love of the poetic word, but also their need to be among like-minded people. And the closer they are to the frontline, the more acute this need is.”
via THE GUARDIAN |
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What Sparks Poetry:
Sarah Ghazal Ali on Language as Form
"'Matrilineage [Umbilicus]' sprung from this unsettledness, not halfway into my first pregnancy, when my body ceased to be entirely mine. I came to the page eyes closed, hands outstretched to trace the contours of my thinking. I could not yet trace the face of my child, so I tried instead to touch each thought as it was born." |
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