Emerging BIWOC Poet Spotlight
This monthly series features poems by women of color in the early stages of their careers. It is our intention to create more space at Perugia for the work of BIWOC, and we hope using our modest platform to celebrate this work will expand the readership of the poets we spotlight. This series aligns with Perugia’s mission to support and promote emerging women poets; all the featured poems will be from BIWOC poets with no more than one published full-length collection. We’d love to hear from readers with suggestions for poems & poets to feature.
December 2021 Poet: DEMISTY D. BELLINGER
Not Grass. Weeds.
Emily, stay in Amherst, watch the train Weave through the brush of Fitchburg. Fitzgerald, the American Dream doesn't involve Dandelion yellow or sun-colored goatsbeard. And Toni, even jazz—even the desired blue of New England aster—won't suffice. Maya, maybe the bird sings for untasted greens Growing wantonly in our moneyed gardens. And Phil, maybe this is the new pastoral: Long green lawns without a speck of color. Claudia, may the books brought to rallies Be full of flowers and fruit mistaken for weeds.
Source
Peculiar Heritage, Mason Jar Press, 2021
Poet Bio
DeMisty D. Bellinger is the author of the poetry collection Peculiar Heritage (Mason Jar Press, 2021), the chapbook Rubbing Elbows (Finishing Line Press, 2017), and the forthcoming novel New to Liberty (Unnamed Press, 2022). A graduate of the MFA program at Southampton College and the PhD program at the University of Nebraska, DeMisty is the poetry editor with Porcupine Literary and with Malarkey Books. She teaches creative writing and women, gender, and sexuality studies at Fitchburg State University in Massachusetts.