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 poets, 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; 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.
February 2023 Poet: Ra Malika Imhotep
this ain’t quite memorial
for Kenneka, Nia, Tee Tee, Chynal, Kayla, Toyin & all our kin
the heaviness in my chest knows safely an illusive myth every reflection in this world is a ghost A girl is gone and I see myself in the shine on her lips. She was perhaps less jaded. Or more daring. or thrown to risk without choice. But she is gone all the same and I feel the absence of her smile in the way my bed refuses to let go each mourning.
Source
From gossypiin by Ra Malika Imhotep (Red Hen Press, 2022)
Poet Bio
Ra Malika Imhotep, ph.d is a Black feminist writer, performance artist, and cultural worker from Atlanta, GA. Currently a UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellow in Critical Dance Studies at UC Riverside, they are also co-convenor with miyuki baker of a spiritual-political education project called The Church of Black Feminist Thought and a member of The Black Aesthetic curatorial collective. Their poetry, prose, & thoughtfeelings have been published by Scalawag Magazine, Burnaway, New Life Quarterly, Vinyl, Antenna Gallery, Arrow Journal, The Guggenheim Museum, Poets.org, and elsewhere. Their debut poetry collection, gossypiin, was published by Red Hen Press in 2022.