“The tapestry that is Sisters Across Oceans, invites the reader into a quilted history which when unraveled, reveals color-filled memories, ancestral stories, personal sheroes, and a reconfiguration of the dominant paradigm of white supremacy. Instead of relying on this tired paradigm, these Black female poets reveal that despite oceans of displacement, thin strands of history can be recovered, while resonant voices and transformational stories are reclaimed. Their words foster love, create reality, break chains of oppression, unearth taboos, and reveal the pain of invisibility. Words, their words, also can lead to liberation, freedom, and celebration.
– Kathryn Takara
Roll Call
Allison Francis
Daphne Barbee-Wooten & Apiorkor Seyiram
Kathryn Takara & Patricia Rejoice Akosua
Kimberly Keys & MadaGhana Crystal
Paula Major & Mariska Taylor
Regina Cook & Britney Tachie
Sandra Simms & Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia Mum C
Shawna Sherman, Ava Beamon, Celestine Nudanu
Willie Bennerman & Afua Adomako
In Sisters Across Oceans, these poets affirm self-determination, empower their will to survive, to fight back, to change, inspire conscience, evoke consciousness, and offer courage. It is time again for Black women to heed their voices, and coalesce their creative power to change the ever-shifting, global landscape.”
-Kathryn Takara
Featured Poems
Love, The Colorless
by Patricia Rejoice Akosua Benuyenah
“I am her freedom dream continuing.”
Her last footstep cradles my journey
The perpetual flame handed to me
Living a life colorless
Lest I miss the fun fair
Color!
Color?
The trumpeted rhythms echoing
Leaving you and I perplexed,
Lost in touch, in thought.
Blurring the consciousness of our vision
Mirroring interpretations of what we conceive
From a single pot we drain drink as we dine
Yes!
M..m..m..m..m h….
Words
by Celestine Nudanu
No man should be silenced with a knee
nor with guns, nor with a word.
for the freedom to breathe is a given
and freedom to express should be free
like the very air we breathe
words are powerful
so is silence
so is the will to be heard
above the din of the silence
when silence becomes golden
it loses its lustre
as one people all over
our words must be the voice
for the voiceless…