As a writer and reader of great stories, there are some works that speak to my identity and the intersections of it. Growing up there were very few love letters to my experiences. Being raised with a single mother forced me to grow up a little faster. Holding up to the big sister way of living I often felt like a third arm when it was just the four of us. I was made to view the world differently because of the hand I was dealt. There was always love, just different versions of it. Sometimes rough or soft, but always present.
My mother showed me poetry from a much different angle than my teacher. She showed me Maya Angelou’s truth and it changed my life. My mother is who my poetry would be dedicated to before I had any other muse. I started with journaling and as I floated into my teenage years, poetry outside of the classroom would gnaw at me. It found me when I needed it most, and I listened.
Writing has always been an exercise in speaking my truth. I did not have the words to speak what I was feeling out loud when life began to take shape. I held this fear that if I spoke, I would break everything. To this day, I occasionally feel my words are heavier than what anyone could bare. Which results in me sometimes going weeks without writing. I find a way through it, seeing the bravery in the words of the incredible authors listed on these proceeding pages. I’m sure they have come to a high point of emotional vulnerability, but they still created masterpieces that have given me comfort.
I have chosen works from a few poets I hold in high regard and have had the privilege of consuming their works. Breathing them in really. My heart beats so loud when joy is present, even in sorrow. Each of these poets bring unfiltered truth to the page, baring their heart, mind and soul to the world. Showing me I’m not alone and even in the fog of doubt, there will be a bright light to etch out my path. Being a Black lesbian woman in America is a feat, but it simply makes me stronger, even on my weak days. These authors represent a full spectrum of the LGBTQ+ community but being Black is what the world see’s first. They each highlight this throughout their books.
These authors are important and valuable because growing up I could only dream of role models of this caliber, specifically Black LGBTQ+ authors who face the same uncertainties I do and fears I haven’t found the words for yet. Writing is what saved my world from collapse and reading allows me to explore others. There is plenty of room for joyous writing. The types of poems that make you smile are within these books being highlighted. Take your time, read them again. Breathe it all in and watch where these breathtaking words take you.
“Black Girl, Call Home”
Jasmine Mans
The first poet I would love to introduce is Jasmine Mans. She is from Newark, New Jersey and her work of art is titled “Black Girl, Call Home.” I would like to start out by saying that this book of poetry and every single one on here is a masterpiece in their own right. For Mans, it’s her intimate telling of her family, personhood and what feels like a removal of barriers between her and her audience. Most importantly, Mans speaks to her experience coming out as a lesbian in a Black household with her poem titled “Momma Said Dyke at the Kitchen Table.” I found it absolutely beautiful, her beginning the poem with:
“Momma said,
so you gonna be a dyke now?
As if she meant to say,
didn’t I raise you better than that…”
And ends it with an intimate truth I could only understand as I got older:
“Momma said,
so you gonna be a dyke now?
As if she meant to say,
I’m scared for you.”
Here she decoded what may seem like a dismissal of one’s identity, when it’s really just a fear our mothers feel when we are Black and it’s exacerbated when we are queer. With that being said, this book is what many young Black queer women need. This poem is like a hug and tough conversation wrapped in a masterpiece.
“Don’t Call Us Dead: Poems”
Danez Smith
The next beautiful work of art is titled “Don’t Call Us Dead: Poems” by Danez Smith. They are a nonbinary, queer and HIV-positive poet. These parts of their identity are explored throughout the poems. The intimacy they bring to the pages provides a peak into what it means to be them. While reading their poems you will cry, laugh, wonder and wander through the depths of their fears, loves and worries.
Additionally, a reoccurring theme within their work is blood and I can’t help but consider this to be by design. Danez takes the world they live within and gives us a tour. In one poem titled “a note on the body” specifically, there is a line that will stick with me forever:
“everyday you wake you raise the dead
everything you do is a miracle.”
What could be considered a simple line to some is a scream to one’s body, that the simple ability to wake up, is a privilege. More times than not, being a Black person in America feels like a death sentence waiting to come because so many never had the chance to breath, to be a miracle. This is what I feel Danez is translating from their experience within the confines of America. This book will bring you closer to understanding.
“The Tradition”
Jericho Brown
Jericho Brown’s “The Tradition” explores the familial relationships within his life and how they have shaped how he views love, loss and healing. This book of poetry does not shy away from truth, as all of the books on this list, but it writes into wounds unseen by the naked eye. He provides a visceral experience throughout each poem, leaving his audience with more answers than questions, but enough questions to keep you wanting more.
I absolutely loved his break down of the Black experience in America. He resurrects it often throughout the book, but in the poem “Second Language” his language does a breathtaking dance. A line from this poem that is gut wrenching, but real:
“…They thought they could
Own the dirt they were
Bound to…”
Before anything in the world we live in, we are Black. This Black experience is tied like a knot, he describes in this poem, to slavery. There is no avoiding that and this is what he is describing in this poem. Add another layer to his identity and it becomes increasingly more dangerous to live your truth. He does this unapologetically though in these pages and for that he deserves to be heard.
“Sister Outsider”
Audre Lorde
Audre Lorde, a legend in her own right, created a space for all of the other authors on this list to speak their truth. In her book titled “Sister Outsider” are essays, interviews and journal entries I view as landmark moments in a Black lesbian woman’s journey. She does not hold anything back and invites the audience in.
While reading this book you can’t help but feel seen and empowered by her vulnerability. It provided room to advocate for myself being a queer Black woman, which can sometimes feel like a plight in victimhood. Her essays are able to strip this idea away. She illustrates fearlessness and why it exists through the language she uses. Of course each piece of her writing speaks to something different but the main point is to do anything you must do it scared because only within uncomfortableness will courage be born. In the essay titled “The transformation of Silence into Language and Action,” she leaves nothing left to consider in the first few lines here:
“I have come to believe over and over again that what is most important to me must be spoken, made verbal and shared, even at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood. That the speaking profits me, beyond any other effect. I am standing here as a Black lesbian poet, and the meaning of all that waits upon the fact that I am still alive…”
This book will take you places you have never been and force you to look closely at the places you have been to. Lorde is the truth personified and you will be left in awe throughout the book.
“All Boys Aren’t Blue”
George M. Johnson
“All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson is masterful, showing the beginnings and middle of Johnson’s life from when he got his teeth kicked out at five years old by a racist to his experience with the n-word.
This memoir should be on everyone’s shelf because it was created to be consumed but the understanding can only come from the purview of the reader. Johnson holds you from beginning to end, he discusses how he did not understand gender at a young age and because of this he chose things that aligned with girls. What I found to be the most beautiful story he highlighted is when his aunt thought he was a girl before he was born and this became something that played a major role in his relationship with the world as a gay Black man. Here he discusses his intentions while writing this book:
“I started writing this book with the intention that every chapter would end with solutions for all the uncomfortable and confusing life circumstances I experienced as a gay Black child in America. I quickly learned this book would be about so much more. About the overlap of my identities and the importance of sharing how those intersections created my privilege and my oppression…”
While you read this book you will see this intention come to life. Speaking on sensitive subjects and showing his Black Boy joy within the folds of it all. This book will transform your thoughts and feelings about young Black gay children in America, which makes it even more important to read.
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