It’s true I wanted
to be beautiful before
authentic. Say the word
exotic. Say minority—
a coiled, dark curl
a finger might wrap
itself in—the long
staircase, and I was
the momentum
of metal springs
descending down
and down,
a tension
—the long staircase,
and I was a stacked series
of spheres finger-tipped
again into motion—say
taut, like a child
who must please
the elders and doesn’t
know how, a curl pulled
thin. I wanted to be
a reckoning, to tornado
into each day’s hard
hands, that wanton
lurching forward
in the dark, another
soaked black ringlet,
that sudden halting
2014
Regular
Contemporary
2022
2024
Body & Body Image
Identity
Intersectionality & Culture
Poetic Form
Enjambment
a line break interrupting the middle of a phrase which continues on to the next line
Extended Metaphor
a metaphor that extends through several lines or even an entire poem
Imperative
an instruction or a command
Internal Rhyme
A rhyme involving a word in the middle of a line and another at the end of the line or in the middle of the next.
Interrupted Clause
a word group (a statement, question, or exclamation) that interrupts the flow of a sentence and is usually set off by commas, dashes, or parentheses
Metaphor
a comparison between two unrelated things through a shared characteristic
Simile
a comparison between two unlike things using the words “like” or “as”
Visual Poetry
Poetry written on the page with intentional form to add meaning to the poem.