Wild imperfections : an anthology of womanist poems / compiled and edited by Natalia Molebatsi ; foreword by Bernardine Evaristo.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Molebatsi, Natalia, editor.

Evaristo, Bernardine, 1959- writer of foreword.

Rosengarten Family Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Poetry--Women authors.

Poetry.

Poetry--Black authors.

Women, Black--Poetry.

Women, Black.

Genre:

poetry.

Poetry.

Physical Description:

xxiv, 192 pages ; 23 cm

Edition:

Cassava Republic edition.

Place of Publication:

Abuja : Cassava Republic Press, 2021.

Summary:

"Whatever its theme, each poem in this collection featuring the work of 40 black women poets from Africa and its diaspora reflects the lives of most, if not all women, womyn and womxn--particularly those born Black and poor by design in a post-slavery, post-colonial world. Wild Imperfections opens with poems honouring different generations of ancestor women, like Sarah Baartman and Rosa Parks--born at different times yet all of them cultural and political mirrors to Black girls and women. Questioning and disrupting patriarchy, these poems speak about birth and death, fertility and infertility, rape and genital mutilation, war, exile and forced migration, but also revel in joy, desire, and the expression of sexuality and the erotic. But what is a wild imperfection? And can the language of these poets recreate a space for the 'wild' and 'unruly', the 'loose' and 'dirty', the 'witches' and 'bitches' who are perfect in their brokenness and who are no longer seeking permission for their rage, their joy and their healing?"-- From publisher's website.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: Diana Ferrus (South Africa) I've Come to Take You Home

My Mother Was a Storm

This Song of Freedom

Nikki Giovanni (USA) The Seamstress of Montgomery

A Prayer for Nina

Miriam Alves (Brazil) Womanly (Feminil)

Subtleties (Sutilezas)

I Go Far (Vou Longe)

Makhosazana Xaba (South Africa) Women of Xolobeni

For Dulcie September

Sister to Sister

Cheryl L Clarke (USA) History

On Their Way to Life

Brief Interval

Jackie Kay (Scotland) Fanny Eaton

The Jamaican Pre-Raphaelite Muse!

A Banquet for The Boys

Bonnie Lassie

Gcina Mhlophe (South Africa) Camagu Mama Sisulu

The Ancient Voices

Anni Domingo (Sierra Leone) Empty Cradle

The Cutting

Because I Am a Girl

M NourbeSe Philip (Tobago/Canada) in this together

Before after/after before

When the looting starts

Kadija Sesay (Sierra Leone/mc) Tattoo

The Most Beautiful Sound in the World?

Stilled Tragedy

The Moon Under Water

Ana-Maurine Lara (Dominican Republic) La Zafra

Call

Lebogang Mashile (South Africa) Vulva Volcanoes

Family Portrait

This Is Not a Poem

Ladan Osman (Somalia) Heart Runoff

Sacraments

Boat Journey

Staceyann Chin (Jamaica) Revolution Food

The Hustle

Dirty/Pretty Things

Natalia Molebatsi (South Africa) Lessons to Learn

Truth

A Kind of Storm

Elizandra Souza (Brazil) My Only Woman's Day

Regality

Preserving Heritage

Jumoke Verissimo (Nigeria) we all live here

Lockdown Journaling

Train Musings

Nadia Alexis (USA/Haiti) Cantaloupe

Watershed

Supposition

Prayer to Ezili Danto

Olumide Popoola (Nigeria/Germany) a fierce love

Mercy Killing

Show Me

LB Williams (USA) emotional autonomy

Little Black Boy

Tjawangwa Dema (Botswana) loss and ampersand

Plough

Contrition

D'bi.young anitafrika (Jamaica) no more pussy gate-keeping

Warsan Shire (Somalia/UK) Backwards

Conversations About Home (at the Deportation Centre)

Questions for Miriam

Gabeba Baderoon (South Africa) Autobiography of a Reader

Nature

Greeting

Camila Trindade (Brazil) Heartburn (Azia)

Between the Lines (Entrelinhas)

My Body (Meu Corpo)

Jamila Osman (Somalia/USA) Winter Blues

Diaspora

Boats

The Lost Key Poem

Koleka Putuma (South Africa) europe asks if it can touch my hair

Into the water

Julie Jokoto (Ghana) Another Slave

On Freedom's Wings

Weapons of War

Michelle K Angwenyi (Kenya) In Your Neutral Room

Ngwatilo Mawiyoo (Kenya) Mermaid's Lament

Home

In Vancouver, a White Woman Compliments My Hair

Batsirai E Chigama (Zimbabwe) To Mothers Learning to Breathe and Failing

The Precipice

Breath Slayer

Safia Elhillo (Sudan/USA) From girls that never die

Rhapsody in pink

From girls that never die

Tiffany Willoughby-Herard (USA) For Despair (or: You Don't Even Know How to Spell Black Excellence)

Poem for LB

Vangile gantsho (South Africa) breathing under water

I have inside me my mother's doubt

Missing

Alexis Teyie (Kenya) A Need for Sighing

Those Corner-Dwellers, They

Momtaza Mehri (UK/Somalia) The Unthought Has a Comb

Wink Wink

Busisiwe Mahlangu (South Africa) Girl Is Prayer

Worship

Malika Booker (Grenada/Guyana/UK) Samson & His Mother

Ash Wednesday's Hymn

Eve Daydreams

Ijeoma Umebinyuo (Nigeria) Stillborn

Bloody Tuesday.

Notes:

The "im" in "imperfections is struck through on the title page.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Rosengarten Family Fund.

Other Format:

ebook version :

ISBN:

1913175251

9781913175252

OCLC:

1243352097

Publisher Number:

99990835352