Black Is Beautiful

Black History 2024

AFRICAN AMERICANS & THE ARTS

Sometimes we forget Black History Month is not about educating others, it’s about celebrating Blackness in this country. And because Blackness is vast and diasporic, every year for Black History Month a theme is chosen. This year, the theme is African Americans & the Arts.

Today 5 poets paired with 5 fine artists.

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Bisa Butler | You’re All I Need 2023

black love

by Evie Shockley

my love is black though my love is not black ::
think the darkness cradling the milky way ::
imagine quick light flowing down the back
of my throat, glowing—i swallow the day ::

my love is black, an absorbing array
of colors :: gold yolk escaping the cracked
shell :: a shiny silver moon-coin to play ::
a juicy peach, plump plums, cup of cognac ::

my love is black, the only way i know
to live :: now fierce and demanding, now free
and unpossessed :: so for my magnet, my
love becomes steel, then, for my butterfly,
will not a flower but a whole field be ::
my love and my blackness together go—

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Kehinde Wiley | Femme Piquée par un Serpent 2022

dream where every black person is standing by the ocean

by Danez Smith

& we say to her
             what have you done with our kin you swallowed?

& she says
             that was ages ago, you’ve drunk them by now

& we don’t understand

& then one woman, skin dark as all of us
             walks to the water’s lip, shouts Emmett, spits

&, surely, a boy begins
              crawling his way to shore

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Jordan Casteel | Aurora 2020

the blk(est) night

by Mahogany L. Browne

the blk(est) night
be a blk girl

she think

her hair
too good
    & her waist
    too small
        & her fit
        too cute
            & her jeans
            too flyy

& her mama ain't nothing
like her
& the bitches
on the corner
ain't nothing like her
& can't nobody sweat her style      
                                 but jesus

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Calida Garcia Rawles | Lost in the Shuffle 2019

Crossing

by Jericho Brown

The water is one thing, and one thing for miles.
The water is one thing, making this bridge
Built over the water another. Walk it
Early, walk it back when the day goes dim, everyone
Rising just to find a way toward rest again.
We work, start on one side of the day
Like a planet’s only sun, our eyes straight
Until the flame sinks. The flame sinks. Thank God
I’m different. I’ve figured and counted. I’m not crossing
To cross back. I’m set
On something vast. It reaches
Long as the sea. I’m more than a conqueror, bigger
Than bravery. I don’t march. I’m the one who leaps.

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Ernie Barnes | Sugar Shack 1976

Haikus

by Willie Perdomo

33.
This evening’s Black sound
Walks like a cat on grass blades
Your nickname two-steps

22.
Get back to your poems
Don’t forget to wear your mask
Main Street is empty

58.
Can’t rock your hoodie
Your cliques of affinity
Might lead to arrest

24.
A virus walk break
Twilight stroll to compost bin
Two rusty leaves rap

77.
Go ’head, bro, dance
There are no mirrors in this joint
You used to love her

29.
Draw her some roses
The before times are ending
Lost my love letters

40.
Pandemic fashion
The maples need to speak up
Detroit Reds all day

34.
To live in this hour
Recall a jukebox love song—
Punk-ass church bells

13.
Perfect ending
A red-tail rolls over the steeple
Dandelion gigs

4.
Pull the dream catcher
A death count on the broadcast
April is chillin’

49.
A bebop wake up
Getting my shit together
Brew some Bustelo

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