Jun 29

Guidelines for the Amplify Poets of Color Project

Greetings, MoSt Poetry members! Thank you for considering sharing the poetry you find especially moving, inspiring, or amazing by Poets of Color. This group includes Black poets, but also Indigenous/Native American poets, Hispanic/Chicano/Latinx poets, and poets of Middle Eastern, East Indian, and Asian descent. We are sharing this poetry on the MoSt Facebook page (and other social media) through the month of July as too often these groups have been marginalized and their contributions to poetry have not been recognized. Their voices deserve to be heard.

When submitting a poem, please follow the guidelines below. This helps us to post the poem in a clean and easy way and also makes sure that we give credit where credit is due. Please note that the name of the person who suggested the poem is not included in the post, and that MoSt reserves the right to not post any poem if the submission guidelines are not met. We will only consider poems suggested by MoSt members. If you’d like to become a member, you can find the membership form on the front page of our website.

  1. The poem must be by a Black poet or a Poet of Color. Consider American poets as these are the poets who have been marginalized by the systemic racism in our country. 
  2. The poem must have been previously published online, in a journal/lit mag, or in a collection. But…if it has been posted online within the last 48 hours, it is already out there, so consider another poem or wait a few more days.
  3. The poem must not be by the person submitting it. 
  4. Please submit the poem as a Word document.
  5. Do not submit a scan, jpeg, or pdf.
  6. Include the original publication info so we can give credit where it is due.
  7. Be aware that social media sites will change the font and size to their specifications, so just keep the Word doc plain and simple. Font size 12, Times New Roman are great.
  8. Please honor the lines, stanzas, and spacing of the original poem. If they have complicated line breaks and spacing, we will make a jpeg of the Word doc you send, so please make sure everything is correct.
  9. The entire poem or excerpt must fit on one page, including title, author’s name, and publication information. 
  10. Submit the poem to info@mostpoetry.org with JULY in the subject line.

If you’d like to see an example of a poem we have posted, please check out the MoSt Facebook page for any day in June. 

Thank you!

Jun 29

Amplify Black Poets, Day 25

A Litany for Survival

by Audre Lorde

For those of us who live at the shoreline
standing upon the constant edges of decision
crucial and alone
for those of us who cannot indulge
the passing dreams of choice
who love in doorways coming and going
in the hours between dawns
looking inward and outward
at once before and after
seeking a now that can breed
futures
like bread in our children’s mouths
so their dreams will not reflect
the death of ours;

For those of us
who were imprinted with fear
like a faint line in the center of our foreheads
learning to be afraid with our mother’s milk
for by this weapon
this illusion of some safety to be found
the heavy-footed hoped to silence us
For all of us
this instant and this triumph
We were never meant to survive.

And when the sun rises we are afraid
it might not remain
when the sun sets we are afraid
it might not rise in the morning
when our stomachs are full we are afraid
of indigestion
when our stomachs are empty we are afraid
we may never eat again
when we are loved we are afraid
love will vanish
when we are alone we are afraid
love will never return
and when we speak we are afraid
our words will not be heard
nor welcomed
but when we are silent
we are still afraid

So it is better to speak
remembering
we were never meant to survive.

Copyright 1978, Audre Lorde, from THE COLLECTED POEMS OF AUDRE LORDE by Audre Lorde. Copyright 1997 by the Audre Lorde Estate.

Please consider donating to Justice for Black Girls Oluwatoyin Freedom Fighters Fund, which provides monetary relief for Black girl activists on the frontlines.

Most Poetry will post a poem by a Black poet each day through the month of June.

Jun 28

Amplify Black Poets, Day 24

Incident

by Natasha Trethewey

We tell the story every year—
how we peered from the windows, shades drawn—
though nothing really happened,
the charred grass now green again.

We peered from the windows, shades drawn,
at the cross trussed like a Christmas tree,
the charred grass still green. Then
we darkened our rooms, lit the hurricane lamps.

At the cross trussed like a Christmas tree,
a few men gathered, white as angels in their gowns.
We darkened our rooms and lit hurricane lamps,
the wicks trembling in their fonts of oil.

It seemed the angels had gathered, white men in their gowns.
When they were done, they left quietly. No one came.
The wicks trembled all night in their fonts of oil;
by morning the flames had all dimmed.

When they were done, the men left quietly. No one came.
Nothing really happened.
By morning all the flames had dimmed.
We tell the story every year.

Collected in Natasha Trethewey’s NATIVE GUARD, 2006, Houghton Mifflin.

Most Poetry will post a poem by a Black poet each day through the month of June.

Jun 27

Amplify Black Poets, Day 23

First Fire

by Camille T. Dungy

Stripped in a flamedance, the bluff backing our houses
quivered in wet-black skin. A shawl of haze tugged tight
around the starkness. We could have choked on August.

Smoke thick in our throats, nearly naked as the earth,
we played bare feet over the heat caught in asphalt.
Could we, green girls, have prepared for this? Yesterday,

we played in sand-carpeted caves. The store we built
sold broken bits of ice plant, empty snail shells, leaves.
Our school’s walls were open sky. We reeled in wonder

from the hills, oblivious to the beckoning
crescendo and to our parent’s hushed communion.
When our bluff swayed into the undulation, we ran

into the still streets of our suburb, feet burning
against a fury that we did not know was change.

Camille Dungy, “First Fire” from WHAT TO EAT, WHAT TO DRINK, WHAT TO LEAVE FOR POISON, Red Hen Press, 2006.

Most Poetry will post a poem by a Black poet each day through the month of June.

Jun 26

Amplify Black Poets, Day 22

America

by Claude McKay

Although she feeds me bread of bitterness,
And sinks into my throat her tiger’s tooth,
Stealing my breath of life, I will confess
I love this cultured hell that tests my youth.
Her vigor flows like tides into my blood,
Giving me strength erect against her hate,
Her bigness sweeps my being like a flood.
Yet, as a rebel fronts a king in state,
I stand within her walls with not a shred
Of terror, malice, not a word of jeer.
Darkly I gaze into the days ahead,
And see her might and granite wonders there,
Beneath the touch of Time’s unerring hand,
Like priceless treasures sinking in the sand.

Claude McKay, “America” from Liberator (December 1921). Courtesy of the Literary Representative for the Works of Claude McKay, Schombourg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tildeen Foundations.

Most Poetry will post a poem by a Black poet each day through the month of June.