Stringfellow, Tara 2017
this is what we made
when they chained us
together like dogs
in a savage new world
and bid us toil
no, we said
we will sing
– Tara Stringfellow, “a poem for black girls in their twenties”
loved me but in white
i spoke only negro
meaning i did not know fairy tale
saw it in movies, yes, but saw my daddy
spit on in a park in chicago
grimms negated
– Tara Stringfellow, “my ex-husband”
Watch Tara Stringfellow’s feature on CBS:
my sister collected hair thick as a nest
from all the old combs in the house
buried it deep in red clay
daddy will come back she chanted
– Tara Stringfellow, “hot combs catfish crumbs and bad men”
