Woods, Jamila 2016
hot to the touch, always sweating
oil from some fruit or nut, conducting
electricity clockwise, 3D printing
my signature over & over again
in new cursive
– Jamila Woods, “My Afropuffs”
Read this interview with Jamila Woods from SPIN Magazine:
Jamila Woods Puts the Focus on Chicago and Black Life
The literary organization Young Chicago Authors lists a pretty simple but powerful mission statement on its website: To transform “the lives of young people by cultivating their voices through writing, publication, and performance education.” One way the organization has accomplished that goal is through WordplayYCA, a long-running open-mic series where many of Chicago’s brightest wordsmiths got their start.
it just so happens that i am hiding
weapons in my hair, just like the blonde
TSA lady expected. when she stuck her rubber
glove fingers in the thicket, a poem
jumped out and bit off her eyelashes.
– Jamila Woods, “in security or on being touched without permission”
Watch Jamila Woods’s music video for “Blk Girl Soldier:”
