Poetry Becomes Eulogy and Manifesto for Gwendolyn Baxley and Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz

Educators and scholars Gwendolyn Baxley and Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz describe for the September Brooklyn Rail their "turn to poetry for refuge and reflection during [the] multiple pandemics" of COVID-19 and "the AntiBlackness of our world." From their co-written piece, which also introduces individual poems by Baxley and Sealey-Ruiz:

…When Blackness means possible execution, poetry becomes both eulogy and manifesto: we put our pens to pads as a means to not only mourn and give tribute to Black life lost, but also declare and celebrate the audacity and fearlessness of Black life (and Black afterlives) even in the face of violence. For us, Pandemic Poetics is a form of catharsis and resistance against current and potential killings by the State. In our stanzas, we (re)claim our pulse and breath. By seeking healing and protest through our art, we stand on the poetic shoulders of elders like Sonia Sanchez, June Jordan, Maya Angelou, Nikki Giovanni, and Lucille Clifton who have historically used Black art, such as poetry, to call out this AntiBlack world, “dig into this thing that tugs at our souls,” and to imagine new worlds and personhood(s).⁶ This legacy of resistance as expressed through poetry is part of a broader Black radical tradition: the collection of customs, beliefs, and values through which Black people call out and disrupt systems of oppression that deny us humanity, through this medium, we proclaim our worth and dignity.

Find the full piece at the Brooklyn Rail.