Poetry by Morgan Parker, Khadijah Queen, and Malcolm London

While Poets Watch will continue to feature Black poets after today, I wanted to wrap up Black History Month with a few rising Black poets.

First is Morgan Parker. From Brooklyn, she is a poet, editor educator, and Cave Canem fellow. Her published works include Other People’s Comfort Keeps Me Up At Night (Switchback Books, 2015) and There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyonce (Tin House Books, 2017).

If You Are Over Staying Woke
by Morgan Parker

Water
the plants. Drink
plenty of water.
Don’t hear
the news. Get
bored. Complain
about the weather.
Keep a corkscrew
in your purse.
Swipe right
sometimes.
Don’t smile
unless you want
to. Sleep in.
Don’t see the news.
Remember what
the world is like
for white people.
Listen to
cricket songs.
Floss. Take pills.
Keep an
empty mind.
When you are
hungover
do not say
I’m never drinking
again. Be honest
when you’re up
to it. Otherwise
drink water
lie to yourself
turn off the news
burn the papers
skip the funerals
take pills
laugh at dumb shit
fuck people you
don’t care about
use the crockpot
use the juicer
use the smoothie maker
drink water
from the sky
don’t think
too much about the sky
don’t think about water
skip the funerals
close your eyes
whenever possible
When you toast
look everyone in the eyes
Never punctuate
the President
Write the news
Turn
into water
Water
the fire escape
Burn the paper
Crumble the letters
Instead of
hyacinths pick
hydrangeas
Water the hydrangeas
Wilt the news
White the hydrangeas
Drink the white
Waterfall the
cricket songs
Keep a song mind
Don’t smile
Don’t wilt
funeral
funeral



The second poet featured today is Khadijah Queen, board chair of Kore Press who is soon to join the core faculty of Mile-High MFA in creative writing at Regis University. Her published works include include chapbooks bloodroot and No Isla Encanta, poetry collections Fearful Beloved and Black Peculiar, individual pieces appearing in countless magazines and anthologies.

_________________________ overheard, misheard or re-imagined
by Khadijah Queen

"Do not appear if you do not want to disappear." —Foucault



I lost the poem I wrote in a strip club,

could have sworn I wrote it on the back

of an important to-do list. Perhaps

a persona poem. Something like:

            I am the body hawker

            running from the police.

Or:

            What other people do

            to destroy themselves is

            too obvious for me, so

            I had to use my own thoughts.



In that case, the poem would have

less to do with stripping than with paying

attention to the absence of dollars

tucked into a g-string.

Perhaps I should wear g-strings

dangling pink rhinestones. Perhaps I should

practice stroking metal poles with

my strong thighs and painterly hands. Why not

dramatize and sensualize endangerment. People do

enjoy juxtaposition. But what if


just this failing memory is enough.

Finally, here is Malcolm London. He is a poet, educator, activist, organizer, and TED Talk speaker. His poetry is mostly spoken, so here are a couple videos well worth listening to:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/75790376-157.html

"High School Training Ground"

Read, listen, share, create, and be on watch.