Ajanaé Dawkins

I have 2 or 3 poems from my chapbook BLOOD-FLEX with @ndrmag that I would love to place before publication next spring. Leads? Recs? Folks accepting work that don't have 6 month to year turn arounds?

I am! Shoot me your email

There’s one in my chapbook. Doesn’t appear online anywhere but I could shoot it to you

To be clear on the kind of chokehold Doechii got me in, I'm about to write a Golden Shovel with "I air this bitch out like a queef" as my reference line.

🥹❤️‍🔥 that’s how I felt sitting in the convo!

Very much so same for me!! ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥 love the way you phrased this

Yes that piece!! ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

Thank you!! ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

Late response but yes! I care less about the colloquial use of the term reading and more about folks talking about redefining literacy! I agree with you completely

I don’t have new obsessions. I’m stuck here and that’s alright. The Holy Spirit will tell me when we’re done making. The muse will move when it's ready.

I’ve been obsessed with the same things for a long time. Matrilineage. Daughterhood. Theology. Mysticism and metaphysical location. The more I create toward these subjects, the more I have to say. I don’t seem to be running out of thoughts, creations, or capacity for making.

Surely, I should have moved on by now? Shout out to Kendrick for reminding me that I can explore an idea, conviction, feeling as deep as it goes and for as long as it sustains me.

I know we been discussing the quality of Kendrick’s hatred but I’m invested in how he embraces obsession. One of my fears as a creator is being staying stuck on the same idea for too long. Sharing the same poem too many times. Writing about the same topic for too many projects.

Public library energy is the best energy. Like here is all the knowledge we could find, it's been meticulously organized and vetted and it will cost you nothing today, welcome to the absolute pinnacle of human civic evolution, feel free to pull up any bean bag chair you like

“Not Like Us” ain’t even on the album; there aren’t any direct references to Drake in the music video for “squabble up” really.

Kendrick gave that man a merciful out and he really said “nah, I wanna talk to the manager.” INCREDIBLE.

Baby’s first Bluesky announcement ❤️

Gwendolyn Brooks Permissions for named me a Gwendolyn Brooks Living Legacy Honoree in the company of Black women whose work made mine possible and some sister friends ❤️‍🔥

My friends started lying to me about when things start and made me share my location. 😩 my ADHD be whooping my ass where time is concerned

Hey Bluesky friends ❤️ I’m a conceptual artist and theologian who works through poetry, visual art, performance, and audio. Here’s a poem I wrote about watching my mother give birth ❤️

As the time blind friend, y’all are our strongest soldiers 😭

Peacemaking is dangerous when powerful men and their God — money — want the war to continue. - Kazim Ali

Last night I spent 4 hours yapping with a friend over drinks and dinner snd it was so good for my soul.

!!! This convo started because folks were acting super elitist about reading vs. listening to audiobooks. I really understand wanting to expand the definition to avoid ableism and stigma. We can talk about the issues with elitism without redefining literacy.

It doesn’t mean they can walk. Their disability prevents them from walking because walking requires the use of your legs. They are able to move from point a to point b but their disability changes how that happens. I don’t think that accessibility requires that we change the definitions of things.

I’ll also toss in that many blind or visually impaired folks read braille which is reading. I think my argument is that disability doesn’t change the function of the word. I have a family member who is disabled and is unable to walk so they use a wheelchair. The wheelchair allows them to move but

Last note. We can continue to make information, news, and stories more accessible folks without changing the definition of reading + literacy.

Accessibility is one of the reasons that I’m committed to performance work as a poet.

without tenderness, we are in hell.

—Adrienne Rich

*

& so to tenderness I add my action.

—Aracelis Girmay

Between the audio books + AI, the kids have no literacy skills and it’s deeply affecting their critical thinking skills.

And does!!! That’s why I can’t let it go lol

Shit is unstable politically, our education systems are failing, now is not the time to try to redefine what reading is. Literacy is a life saving skill.