the changes blacks have pushed for have always benefited more than just blacks - the sort of social guarantees that benefit the entirety of worker rights, women's rights, gender rights, & all of basic human rights. it's just the others who'd most enjoy these benefits dont want blacks succeeding.

all im saying is: dont be all out of sorts NOW with the percieved lack in resistance from black people when just minutes before all this there was ZERO support in affirming our perspectives in the classrooms, workplaces, and to government. DEI was under attack well before trump.

but im just another disenfranchised black poet to begin with, so if my country & its citizens are gonna continue disavowing me, my children, & our history then perhaps the onus for social change is less on us & more on those historically content with maintaining those distinctions. idk.

you know, once the american government sees "the will of the people" as an act of terrorism then that american government has 100% lost the plot & no longer adheres to the societal radicalism that pushed it towards independence in the 1st place. happy 250th.

On this day in 1956, to undermine the local bus boycott against segregation, the City Commission in Tallahassee, Florida, ordered a crackdown on drivers who volunteered to carpool Black residents.

wealth is not a right, it is a weapon & it's being used against the poor & working classes at every governmental level whatever wealth existing in progressive hands must be utilized better with greater intent to outcomes because million dollar philanthropy is no match for billion dollar propaganda

also, mainstream media didnt align, if not altogether kowtow, to the politics of gross wealth like this. even when billionaires owned that media they tended to be content with profiting from progressives while silently funding the conservatives. they've dropped that ruse completely & we dont care.

We do not have to live this way. The billionaires think they own all land. All air. All water. All thought. They don’t.

congratulations to Shauna M. Morgan on being longlisted for the 2026 Jerwood Prize for 1st collections. you can order her debut, Ground Provisions, at peepal tree press or from your fave bookseller. & always ask libraries to carry books that interest you. www.peepaltreepress.com/books/ground...

also, if any reviewers would like copies of either The Second Stop Is Jupiter or The Shoes of the Fisherman's Wife, then i have a couple of each to give out. readers can buy Jupiter here: wsupress.wayne.edu/9780814350539/ & Fisherman's Wife here: www.kentuckypress.com/author/upfro...

i would *love* to be a mummified egyptian warrior princess! 🥰 found this online (some museum site) and i definitely wanna be buried with it...

james baldwin THE STRUGGLE OF THE ARTIST

"Real misfortune is not just a matter of being hungry and thirsty; it is a matter of knowing that there are people who want you to be hungry and thirsty." Ousmane Sembène, God's Bits of Wood

looking for reviews of poetry collections by black writers over the last decade or so... obscure, lesser-known poets would be ideal, but i'll take what you have. so hit me; who yall got?!

WHOA-OOH-OH WHOA-OOH-OH WHOA-OOH-OH-OH-OH 🎵🎶

prince EROTIC CITYYyyyy.....

no lie, my first thought was it's a diamond headed bird with black wings carrying a crescent moon. even tho im a visual artist, i sometimes miss contextual clues and now know it's inspired by the purple striped cheshire cat... but still, ima see what i wanna. 😜

there are few times where peripheral black characters in a mainly white show get to say or do something that feels authentic to our outlook as black folk, but Kevin Carroll as sheriff Bechir Clemmons on Widow's Bay gets one of those moments in episode 7. real & humorous but not played for laughs.

dr. jimmy: i like how you just say anything without holding back... *was... not saying anything an option?!*

This is a superstar event you do not wanna miss if you can get your butt to Louisville. @crystalwilki.bsky.social is our revered Affrilachian auntie making us so proud shining out there with her writing. Ocean Vuong is one of today's most important lyrical voices. Be there or be square!

this is me, whenever i post a poem, looking at the 7 thousand plus people who follow "a poet"....

@morethanmud.bsky.social get in, loser, we're going to the therapist.

i suffer 𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘱𝘰𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘺𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘦... to help raise awareness & possibly find a cure, please support my cashapp at 💀

This is just to say I have placed Senator McConnell in the icebox and who you were probably saving for elections Forgive me he was so dead so stiff and so cold

it's encouraging to see themes in my poetry manifest as blog & visual essays - not that im originator of such themes: the tides of cultural awareness lifts us all in that moment... but with that said, maaan, i really shoulda started a youtube channel 15 yrs ago insteada being a hack poet! 😂

"ok, boomer-adjacent"

Please pay attention to this information Nisrin is sharing. You need to keep eyes on Sudan. I couldn't get past the paywall, but the gist is that the United States military, as well as the evil company Boeing, are complicit in the Sudanese genocide. Something to know about your own complicity.

Aretha, Harry, Billie (when she had it!!), Sidney, etc. they was bailing niggas out. Funding printing operations. Paying mortgages/rent and for funerals.

Weekly repayment ✅ tysm yk who you are •$108/$2117 before 7/18 (2 days) to keep us inside for a week •help needed in general, like needa meal tn Stalled several hours🥳 Linktr.ee/hiitsbritt #mutualaid #bipocmutualaid #disabilitycrowdfund #mutualaidrequest #mutualaidvoid #homelesssky

diamond ocean ass show off... 😒

jane gentry THE CONCEPT OF MORNING

"back to back, sacroliliac" ‐ blondie, rapture

fab 5 freddy CHANGE THE BEAT (AKA UNE SALE HISTOIRE)

fantastic freaks FANTASTIC FREAKS AT THE DIXIE

we'll be in louisville friday as @crystalwilki.bsky.social sits in conversation with Ocean Vuong over his new novel, The Emperor of Gladness at Spalding's Columbia Gym Auditorium... more deets:

Zines delivered to my house monthly? Sign me up! We are teaming up with the fabulous @microcosm.bsky.social to offer a FREE BOOK (How to Make a Zine!) for new subscribers in 2026! peoplesbooktakoma.com/zine-scene-s... Get zines. Read zines. Makes zines. Give zines. Repeat.

we used to have a digital hangout spot on my old poetry site called "the porch sitters union"... i recall that being an actual movement in the early 2000s. we need to meet up on porches & stoops again. dont even hafta be our own; just get permission first.

i did actually lose him one day and found him 3 blocks away in the backyard of a neighbor i didnt know with several other kids jumping on a trampoline... this was a kid who saw 'stranger danger' in even his relatives. i was never more proud.

i think the primary "third place" was simply "outdoors"... any physical space that was not home or work *was* that space for us. or thats how i remember it - the park, the bookstore, the coffeeshop, the corner lamppost, the mailbox opposite the lamppost, the comicbook shop, the record stores....

when you turn off requotes after a post has been requoted then you can no longer access those requotes via the original post... which is sad because there were so many interesting tidbits in those requotes.

Did you know Lysol wasn’t always marketed as a cleaning product?

There's an entire genocide happening in Congo where men, women, and children are being removed from Earth by the Rwandan Military, and the United States of America is funding it

Most people think that space is silent but it’s not. In fact, the sun is actually loud as fuck. There’s just not enough air for the sounds waves to travel on. ALL celestial bodies emit some form of noise.

Missy Elliott released her debut album ‘Supa Dupa Fly’ 29 years ago on July 15, 1997 | Listen to the album + revisit our tribute here: album.ink/MElliottSDF

we dont have a 𝘱𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘢 but this is about as cluttered as our house is on any given day... instead of cleaning up i should recreate this for the bookcover! 😂

Lil mama said, “I know you lyin to me.” 🤣

If anyone needs me, I’ll be microwaving lettuce

me, praying to see Anna Diop portray Ororo Munroe in an X-Man movie just once before i fuckin' die:

Ok now I'm furious about something I literally just learned about. "Fishmeal production not only removes vital protein sources from local tables but also affects the quality of life for nearby communities. Residents near factories are forced to endure environmental degradation and terrible odours."

Fes is a Mirror is next up on my summer reading list. I already know this book will be 🔥🔥🔥Written by one of the most brilliant and amazing prizes i know!! @chantalalive.blacksky.app 🫶🏾🫶🏾 Yeah bestie!!