As National Poetry Month (that's this month the one we are currently in fam) comes to an end, let us celebrate some dope black poets. The literary world often silences the voices of black writers, and so while in school while we hear all about the Robert Frost's, Emily Dickinson's, Walt Whitman's and Sylvia Plath's; we have to hunt to find our people. Black poetry, contrary to what white academia might have you think, doesn't just start and end with Langston Hughes. Let's dive into some poets that whether you have or have never heard of deserve your attention. 

1. Danez Smith 

A black, queer, poet, who excels at slam? Yes please. Danez Smith takes their (gorgeous) words off the page and delivers some straight up sermons. His work focuses on being black, being queer, being young, being alive and fearing what could be as a minority in America. Danez’s work is beautiful both on the page and when they are illuminating stages.

sometimes a boy walks into his room

then walks out into his new world

still clutching wicked metals. some boys

waded here through their own blood.

does it matter how he got here if we’re all here

to dance? grab a boy, spin him around.

if he asks for a kiss, kiss him.

if he asks where he is, say gone.

– From “summer, somewhere” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/detail/58645

2. Claudia Rankine 

You pretty much can not talk about contemporary black poets without talking about Claudia Rankine. As far as masters at a craft go, she is simply unmatched and outstanding. In 2016 after winning a MacArthur Fellowship Award, she announced that she would be using the prize money to create something truly radical: a space for talking about white privilege. via The Guardian: (the) “Racial Imaginary Institute”, which would enable creative thinkers “to come together in a kind of laboratory environment to talk about the making of art and culture and … the dismantling of white dominance.” Her book Citizen: An American Lyric, is a powerful read in that it provides a much needed critique of whiteness and push for young black Americans looking at our country both for what it is what it could be.  

A hoodie is worn by everybody: kids, white men, white women, black men. But it clings to the black body as a sign of criminality like nothing else. 

– From Citizen

3. Douglas Kearney

If you ever happen to find yourself in a place where Douglas Kearney happens to be doing a reading: GO. Kearney brings his words alive in a way that can truly only be seen to truly understand. He makes you want to know more about black history, more about our culture, more about the church, more about…truly everything he speaks to. The amazing thing about his work is that while his performance is next level, so are his books. His love for graphic design shows in his publications and it makes for an immersive experience that falls somewhere between reading a graphic novel and something so much more. 

4. Saeed Jones

Beautiful. Haunting. Terrifying. The got damn truth. In his first book Prelude to Bruise, Saeed came out swinging. The book focuses on a protagonist who is growing up queer and brown in the south, and leaves you with every emotion you could possible imagine. If his name sounds familiar it's because you've no doubt read him before. Whether it be on of his poems or as the author of an article on the numerous sites he contributes to. He is an Executive Editor at Buzzfeed where he started and oversees The Emerging Writers Fellowship. https://www.buzzfeed.com/saeedjones/buzzfeed-emerging-writers-fellowship?utm_term=.vk9kzJEVn#.bbRDB1nx3

All I've ever wanted
was to kiss crevices, pry them open,
and flourish within dew-slick
hollows.
 How you mistake
my affection.
 If I ever strangled sparrows,
it was only because I dreamed
of better songs.

– An excerpt from KUDZU:

Felix is casually an advocate, a poet, and a speechwriter for New York's Governor Andrew Cuomo. Her poetry shows a human who is parsing through their sexual assault by facing the complexities and the scars that being assaulted forever imprint on survivors. Her work is all at once empowering and heartbreaking. She speaks with a voice that feels like you’re talking to a new friend, someone on the cusp of letting you in, but making you work for it.

We owe Sonia Sanchez a lot. Not only for the fact that she has blessed us with more than a dozen published books of poetry, but because she was a major factor in the creation of the black studies curriculum you see at colleges today. While when you Google her the first thing you'll probably see is: poet, her work transcends the written word. She is a powerful advocate and leader who has seen our countries treatment of black people shift massively since she was born in 1934, but more so than live it, she made certain that our history was not only archived but taught. 

forgive me if i laugh

you are so sure of love

you are so young

and i too old to learn of love.

– An excerpt from "Ballad" 

https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/ballad

Looking for a slam in Boston? But you want it to be black and unapologetically queer? Well then you are in need of the light that is Janae Johnson. Johnson is the winner of 2016 Women of the World Poetry Slam and writes about being a butch woman not only in the world but the poetry universe. Says Johnson:

“In poetry, you’re allowed to share the things that are not necessarily talked about.” – PBS

You know what's inspiring about Sonya Renee? Everything. Her work celebrates both pain and accepting your truest self. If you have ever felt like an other, whether it be because of your race, your body, or your sexuality her phenomenal project The Body Is Not an Apology, is for you. The poem where the movement get's it namesake is an affirmation to be read whenever you are feeling less than: 

"Praise the body in its black jack magic even in this. For the razor wire mouth. For the sweet God ribbon with it. Praise for the mistake that never was. Praise for the bend to fall and rise again, fall and rise again. For the raising like an obstinate Christ."

9. Safiya Sinclair 

You’ve seen Safiya Sinclair’s book, Cannibal, before. 

It has passed by you on the street, it has been perched on someone’s lap on the train, the cutie you’ve been crushing on all semester recommended it to you, oh and it has appeared on almost every best of list of 2016 that you’ve perused laying in bed at night. The question is have you read it? 

Safiya in ways that are often gut-wrenching uses Shakespeare’s The Tempest to form a collection of work that any black person, especially one with immigrant ties will feel for weeks after. Says Sinclair: 

“…immigrants, or people who were once colonized — should be grateful. Somehow we were saved from some darkness, some worse fate. Even here in America, I’ve had people say to me, ‘Well, why are you criticizing America? You should go home. If you hate it so much, why don’t you leave. You should be grateful to be here under any condition.’ It is this idea that many Westerners, Americans, and Europeans have, and that is, ‘Look at what we’ve given you. Be grateful.’" – KQED Arts 

How broad how thick how beastly
and you the glass beaker of seeds
who gauge minute fractions of man, am I Orang-utan

Or am I savage? Neighbour,
I am naming you damned.
Blood brother, trained guerilla, renegade.
Killer. Threat of the Africanized bee.

– From One Hundred Amazing Facts About the Negro With Complete Proof, II

So are you ready fam? Take these words and let them carry you into summer. The poets above have a myriad of different soulful styles that can fill a plethora of different voids you may have not even realized you had. Both the one thing they all have in common is their melanin, and their unabashed commitment to it.