Poets of Color



Elmaz Abinader, Instructor Office: 313 Mills Hall
510 430 2225 elmaz@earthlink.net
office hours: 5-6:30 Thursday and by appointment

Here are the texts for the class.
• Asian American Poetry: the Next Generation edited by Victoria Chang
• Voices from Leimert Park, ed by Shonda, Buchannan
• Effigies, An Anthology of New Indigenous Writing Pacific Rim, 2009, Okpik, Rexford McDougall, etc (Salt Publishing)
• The Wind Shifts, New Latino Poetry, Edited by Francisco Aragón
• The Essential Etheridge Knight by Etheridge Knight
• Mercy by Lucille Clifton
• Zodiac of Echoes by Khaled Mattawa
• Diwata by Barbara Jane Reyes


Sunday, November 25, 2012

VJ's Poems and Five Word Bio


Poem from our readings: Lucille Clifton's "September Song" 
Poem from my collection: "Was he Black? (an oldie but goodie) or "Suffering in Silence" (a newbie)
The newbie will go in the zine
Bio: Venus wages peace through poetry
Bringing to the table? wine and or sparking cider


SUFFERING IN SILENCE (for 9/11 families who want to forget)
 By Venus Jones

I was silent yesterday/ You know when you've said everything there is to say about a dismal day/ Kind of silent/ When you want terrible memories to simply fade away/ Kind of silent/ I've said it already/ In different ways/ a thousand times/ Some people still haven't found their missing/Voice or vanguard/ Yet some how/ It comforts them to hear /about where I was// How heavy the mental lifting really was/ How heroic/ Everyday people can be/ Some survivors move people/Some thrivers move on/ He allowed the event/To eventually enter his body/The back pain/ The knee pain/The chest pain/ Got old/ We don't want to talk/ About the lack of assurance/ When the ailment and ache are hidden/ And people don't know--- What is not said lingers longer/ Inside he picks at the scab/ opens the wound again/ Yearly/ His wife cries/ the quiet tears that he can't / So they both turn away/ Suffering in silence/ What's the cost of remembrance?/ What's the cost to forget?/ Yesterday

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