The International Women's Writing Guild (IWWG) published a Black Voices edition of their quarterly newsletter, Network. Our Stories, Ourselves: Narratives from Black Women In Africa and America features poems, prose, and short stories from Black women across the United States and several countries in Africa including Nigeria and Ghana.
A poem I wrote—This, Is America—was included in the publication. I am beyond grateful for the opportunity to share a space with so many talented Black women. I appreciate the work of the Guild's executive director, Michelle Miller, for bringing this publication to fruition. Thank you.
I would like to use this space to share my piece. I also invite you to read the work of the other women included in the publication. You can read the issue by clicking here.
The immigrant yells, “Go back where you came from!”
The descendant of slaves responds, “Where I came from?”
I came from the womb of a Black woman,
A sacred, hallowed space
with power and energy vibrating
on a level parallel to The Creator,
fashioned as the carrier of endless possibilities.
I came from the Garden of Eden
naked, natural, created in His image, the first woman.
I came from the heavens,
the firmament swathed in stars, planets, and the moon.
I came from love songs, soulful,
with melodies and chords and strings on lutes.
I came from the elements—fire, wind, water, earth, space, and time,
explosive as volcanic eruptions, overpowering as tsunamis,
entwined to the universe like the moon to the tides.
“Go back where I came from?
I AM where I came from.”
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