CONTENTS

Foreword by
Bernardine Evaristo xv

Editor's Note
by Natalia Molebatsi xxi

Diana Ferrus
(South Africa)

I've Come to
Take You Home 1

My Mother Was a
Storm 3

This Song of
Freedom 4

Nikki Giovanni
(usa)

The Seamstress
of Montgomery 5

A Prayer for
Nina 7

Miriam Alves
(Brazil)

Womanly
(Feminil) 8

Subtleties
(Sutilezas) 9

I Go Far (Vou
Longe) 10

Makhosazana Xaba
(South Africa)

Women of
Xolobeni 11

For Dulcie
September 13

Sister to
Sister 14

Cheryl L Clarke
(usa)

History 15

On Their Way to
Life 18

Brief Interval
20

Jackie Kay
(Scotland)

Fanny Eaton ?
The Jamaican Pre-Raphaelite Muse! 21

A Banquet for
The Boys 24

Bonnie Lassie
25

Gcina Mhlophe (South
Africa)

Camagu Mama
Sisulu 26

The Ancient
Voices 29

Anni Domingo
(Sierra Leone)

Empty Cradle 32

The Cutting 34

Because I Am a
Girl 36

M NourbeSe
Philip (Tobago/Canada)

in this
together 37

before
after/after before 39

when the
looting starts ... 40

Kadija Sesay
(Sierra Leone/uk)

Tattoo 44

The Most
Beautiful Sound in the World? 45

Stilled Tragedy
46

The Moon Under
Water 47

Ana-Maurine Lara
(Dominican Republic)

La Zafra 48

Call 50

Lebogang Mashile
(South Africa)

Vulva Volcanoes
53

Family Portrait
56

This Is Not a
Poem 58

Ladan Osman
(Somalia)

Heart Runoff 59

Sacraments 61

Boat Journey 64

ix

Staceyann Chin
(Jamaica)

Revolution Food
66

The Hustle 69

Dirty/Pretty
Things 71

Natalia
Molebatsi (South Africa)

Lessons to
Learn 74

Truth 75

A Kind of Storm
76

Elizandra Souza
(Brazil)

My Only Woman's
Day 77

Regality 78

Preserving
Heritage 79

Jumoke Verissimo
(Nigeria)

we all live
here 80

Lockdown
Journaling 82

Train Musings
83

Nadia Alexis
(usa/Haiti)

Cantaloupe 84

Watershed 86

Supposition 88

Prayer to Ezili
Danto 89

Olumide Popoola
(Nigeria/Germany)

a fierce love
90

mercy killing
92

Show Me 94

LB Williams
(usa)

emotional
autonomy 96

Little Black
Boy 97

x

Tjawangwa Dema
(Botswana)

loss and
ampersand 98

Plough 100

Contrition 101

d'bi.young
anitafrika (Jamaica)

no more pussy
gate-keeping 102

Warsan Shire
(Somalia/uk)

Backwards 109

Conversations
About Home (at the Deportation Centre) 111

Questions for
Miriam 113

Gabeba Baderoon
(South Africa)

Autobiography
of a Reader 114

Nature 115

Greeting 116

Camila Trindade
(Brazil)

Heartburn
(Azia) 117

Between the
Lines (Entrelinhas) 119

My Body (Meu
Corpo) 120

Jamila Osman
(Somalia/usa)

Winter Blues
121

Diaspora 122

Boats 123

The Lost Key
Poem 124

Koleka Putuma
(South Africa)

europe asks if
it can touch my hair 125

into the water
129

xi

Julie Jokoto
(Ghana)

Another Slave
131

On Freedom's
Wings 133

Weapons of War
134

Michelle K
Angwenyi (Kenya)

In Your Neutral
Room 136

Ngwatilo Mawiyoo
(Kenya)

Mermaid's
Lament 138

Home 139

In Vancouver, a
White Woman Compliments My Hair 141

Batsirai E
Chigama (Zimbabwe)

To Mothers
Learning to Breathe and Failing 142

The Precipice
143

Breath Slayer
144

Safia Elhillo
(Sudan/usa)

From girls that never die 145

rhapsody in
pink 146

From girls that never die 147

Tiffany
Willoughby-Herard (usa)

For Despair
(or: You Don't Even Know

How to Spell
Black Excellence) 149

Poem for LB 154

vangile gantsho
(South Africa)

breathing under
water 155

i have inside
me my mother's doubt 156

missing 157

xii

Alexis Teyie
(Kenya)

A Need for
Sighing 158

Those
Corner-Dwellers, They 159

Momtaza Mehri (uk/Somalia)

The Unthought
Has a Comb 160

Wink Wink 162

Busisiwe
Mahlangu (South Africa)

Girl Is Prayer
163

Worship 164

Malika Booker
(Grenada/Guyana/uk)

Samson &
His Mother 165

Ash Wednesday's
Hymn 170

Eve Daydreams
171

Ijeoma Umebinyuo
(Nigeria)

Stillborn 172

Bloody Tuesday
174

Women Forced out of Girls 176