CONTENTS
Foreword by
Bernardine Evaristo xv
Editor’s Note
by Natalia Molebatsi xxi
Diana Ferrus
(South Africa)
I’ve Come to
Take You Home 1
My Mother Was a
Storm 3
This Song of
Freedom 4
Nikki Giovanni
(usa)
The Seamstress
of Montgomery 5
A Prayer for
Nina 7
Miriam Alves
(Brazil)
Womanly
(Feminil) 8
Subtleties
(Sutilezas) 9
I Go Far (Vou
Longe) 10
Makhosazana Xaba
(South Africa)
Women of
Xolobeni 11
For Dulcie
September 13
Sister to
Sister 14
Cheryl L Clarke
(usa)
History 15
On Their Way to
Life 18
Brief Interval
20
Jackie Kay
(Scotland)
Fanny Eaton –
The Jamaican Pre-Raphaelite Muse! 21
A Banquet for
The Boys 24
Bonnie Lassie
25
Gcina Mhlophe (South
Africa)
Camagu Mama
Sisulu 26
The Ancient
Voices 29
Anni Domingo
(Sierra Leone)
Empty Cradle 32
The Cutting 34
Because I Am a
Girl 36
M NourbeSe
Philip (Tobago/Canada)
in this
together 37
before
after/after before 39
when the
looting starts … 40
Kadija Sesay
(Sierra Leone/uk)
Tattoo 44
The Most
Beautiful Sound in the World? 45
Stilled Tragedy
46
The Moon Under
Water 47
Ana-Maurine Lara
(Dominican Republic)
La Zafra 48
Call 50
Lebogang Mashile
(South Africa)
Vulva Volcanoes
53
Family Portrait
56
This Is Not a
Poem 58
Ladan Osman
(Somalia)
Heart Runoff 59
Sacraments 61
Boat Journey 64
ix
Staceyann Chin
(Jamaica)
Revolution Food
66
The Hustle 69
Dirty/Pretty
Things 71
Natalia
Molebatsi (South Africa)
Lessons to
Learn 74
Truth 75
A Kind of Storm
76
Elizandra Souza
(Brazil)
My Only Woman’s
Day 77
Regality 78
Preserving
Heritage 79
Jumoke Verissimo
(Nigeria)
we all live
here 80
Lockdown
Journaling 82
Train Musings
83
Nadia Alexis
(usa/Haiti)
Cantaloupe 84
Watershed 86
Supposition 88
Prayer to Ezili
Danto 89
Olumide Popoola
(Nigeria/Germany)
a fierce love
90
mercy killing
92
Show Me 94
LB Williams
(usa)
emotional
autonomy 96
Little Black
Boy 97
x
Tjawangwa Dema
(Botswana)
loss and
ampersand 98
Plough 100
Contrition 101
d’bi.young
anitafrika (Jamaica)
no more pussy
gate-keeping 102
Warsan Shire
(Somalia/uk)
Backwards 109
Conversations
About Home (at the Deportation Centre) 111
Questions for
Miriam 113
Gabeba Baderoon
(South Africa)
Autobiography
of a Reader 114
Nature 115
Greeting 116
Camila Trindade
(Brazil)
Heartburn
(Azia) 117
Between the
Lines (Entrelinhas) 119
My Body (Meu
Corpo) 120
Jamila Osman
(Somalia/usa)
Winter Blues
121
Diaspora 122
Boats 123
The Lost Key
Poem 124
Koleka Putuma
(South Africa)
europe asks if
it can touch my hair 125
into the water
129
xi
Julie Jokoto
(Ghana)
Another Slave
131
On Freedom’s
Wings 133
Weapons of War
134
Michelle K
Angwenyi (Kenya)
In Your Neutral
Room 136
Ngwatilo Mawiyoo
(Kenya)
Mermaid’s
Lament 138
Home 139
In Vancouver, a
White Woman Compliments My Hair 141
Batsirai E
Chigama (Zimbabwe)
To Mothers
Learning to Breathe and Failing 142
The Precipice
143
Breath Slayer
144
Safia Elhillo
(Sudan/usa)
From girls that never die 145
rhapsody in
pink 146
From girls that never die 147
Tiffany
Willoughby-Herard (usa)
For Despair
(or: You Don’t Even Know
How to Spell
Black Excellence) 149
Poem for LB 154
vangile gantsho
(South Africa)
breathing under
water 155
i have inside
me my mother’s doubt 156
missing 157
xii
Alexis Teyie
(Kenya)
A Need for
Sighing 158
Those
Corner-Dwellers, They 159
Momtaza Mehri (uk/Somalia)
The Unthought
Has a Comb 160
Wink Wink 162
Busisiwe
Mahlangu (South Africa)
Girl Is Prayer
163
Worship 164
Malika Booker
(Grenada/Guyana/uk)
Samson &
His Mother 165
Ash Wednesday’s
Hymn 170
Eve Daydreams
171
Ijeoma Umebinyuo
(Nigeria)
Stillborn 172
Bloody Tuesday
174
Women Forced out of Girls 176
