3 poems published in Amplify journal
Three poems from a forthcoming poetry book, “Upon the Body: Poems of/to a Black Social Epi” (2023), published in Amplify: A Journal of Writing-As-Activism. The poems appear in the inaugural spring/summer issue of 2022.
“MASKS//Exposed”: Offers a critical analysis of the public health and political discourse during the early stages of COVID-19, drawing from public health literature, critical theory, and news media to interrogate dominant narratives of being “all in this together”, social distance(ing), and COVID-19 being an “equal opportunity infection.”
“IMAGINATION//Immunity”: Offers a personal reflection on how COVID-19 has shaped daily life for those with young children, anchored in a theme of imagination as escape/immunity, and taking my childhood nostalgia of Nas’ (1996) “If I Ruled the Ruled (Imagine That)” as the narrative architecture/pulse.
“BLACK//Gold”: Offers a lyrical analysis of intersections between dual pandemics of COVID-19 and racialized police violence, integrating critical social commentary of each as rooted in broader forms/norms of structural racism, racial capitalism, and epistemic and symbolic violence. Written in the tradition of Black protest music, the lyrics evoke the words/writings of James Baldwin, Frantz Fanon, Assata Shakur, and Nina Simone—using vocal and piano samples from the latter’s renditions of “Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair” and “Strange Fruit.” (Listen to audio recording)