Sharing Darkling
I share my new poetry collection Darkling, come 7 November, 6-7.30 pm (GMT). I’m excited about speaking these words aloud in company. There’s something magical happens when we give voice to our creations. Allow the words, language to reverberate through our bodies. We come to the words almost anew, a fresh and feel all the emotions and meanings as they enfold again and for the first time.
I know it’s going to be an emotional session to share as this book was a long time in the making. I’ve changed so much in its creation. But I’m ready.
I share a poem with you today from Darkling. And please join me in its launch next week.
found poem: we arrived here with stars in our hair and needles between our toes*
after drea brown
be autumn/ be siskin/ be slick
twilight licks our dark skin
deep within the forest
straining through spruce/ larch and pine
(trial & error I learnt their names/ names
are never easy on black bodies)
living within the unknown (out)side
where history is wet/ with memory/ & muchness
within the shadows/ within the wake
we search/ for a tenderness in the brokenness
breathing in/ in-between spaces
tongue locked/ tongue packed/ tongue tied
we be/ but not be/
unfurling like tight fisted ferns
brown bruised/ violence against ourselves
into the woods/ in flight/ in creep creek/
in restless/ motherless moan
shapeshifting/ combing the black air/
what would happen/ if we linger
in the midst/
/////////slow////////down////////slow//////motion///////
refusing to be absent for ourselves/////////slow///////breathing//////
together/ listening to each other/ listening
to this haunting presence/refusing to play dead/
stay dead/
*the title is inspired by something within Paul Taylor, ‘Black Aesthetics’, Philosophy Compass 5/1 2010.
<https://sites.hampshire.edu/blackaesthetics/files/2017/03/taylorpaul-blackaesthetics.pdf>