Get Involved With This BIPOC Poetry

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With roughly one more week of National Poetry Month left to go, there’s still time to read and meditate a bit on the form. There is something that is distinct about what BIPOC poets offer. Because of systems that have kept us out—out of schools and other institutions—we’ve had to adapt. This adaptation involved shaping the language we were often forced to speak into a new form, with new rhythm and meanings, that suited us. We give it our rhythm, we adapt words to our environments, and we make it our own. As a result, it goes on to reflect our experiences as marginalized people.

Below are collections of poetry (and one nonfiction book about poetry by the 24th Poet Laureate of the United States) that shape and mold language into our likeness. They are experimental, look at the magic of nature at night, and explore how community should look.

Against Breaking: On the Power of Poetry by Ada Limón

Ada Limón, the 24th Poet Laureate of the United States, has made it her mission to bring poetry to everyone and spread her belief that poetry is essential to our everyday lives. Her new book argues that poetry plays a vital role in community connections and better understanding ourselves and each other. —Kendra Winchester

Night Owl by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

The author of the bestselling World of Wonders turns her nature-loving pen to the surreal splendor of nighttime. The magic that unfolds during the night transforms nature, not unlike how love transforms us and our relationships with others, all of which she explores here.

In a recent guest post, she said, “The nighttime world keeps offering small gifts, even in the face of so much injustice and destruction. My poems hope to gather those moments (while not ignoring the very real pain and suffering of so many lives) and set them gently before the reader. In this way—when I have my writing hat on—I feel like a crow, offering up a collection of tinsel, buttons, or a bit of a calico scallop shell on a gentle person’s windowsill.”

Read the full post here.

Cover Image of Pink Tongue Out, Blind Cat by Maria Paz Guerrero

Pink Tongue Out, Blind Cat by Maria Paz Guerrero, translated by Robin Myers

Here, we see National Poetry Month doing its job, since I’ve been introduced to María Paz Guerrero as a result. Guerrero is recognized by many to be one of Colombia’s most daring poets, and her latest translated work seems to get right into the nitty-gritty. Bodies are cut into and explored, other body parts give out, and then there’s the titular black cat, who travels around, bumping into things to find its way. The poems here are experimental, with a distinct and unique rhythm.

We (the People of the United States) by Joshua Bennett

Inspired by Virgil’s Georgics, the award-winning Joshua Bennet uses both the personal (like his New York upbringing) and the seemingly random (like an epic poem that looks at the lives of four famous and trailblazing Black men) to look at how we should show up for each other.

For more poetry, Managing Editor Vanessa Diaz has compiled this list of Latine poets to celebrate this month and beyond.

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