Hi everyone,
Welcome to 365 Days of Poetry & Honesty! I hope this past week has been kind to you <3
I didn't think there'd be a newsletter this week, but here I am! It's not that there aren't poems, it's more so that doing this, writing poems, being this ‘vulnerable’, it's starting to feel like I’m giving bits of me away. And even though it's always felt like that, recently it feels overwhelming, and maybe I’m too much in my head but either way, I’m the poet and I’m saying Oyinda it's okay, you don't have to share everything anymore. And at the moment I don't want to. So I won't force myself to. However, that doesn't mean that I can't do the newsletter! Something I realised yesterday :)
When I first had this idea, I said I would share with you poems by other poets that I enjoyed reading. It was partly because I didn't really believe that I would manage to write a poem a day, but I have! The past 6 months have been a testament to that! However, this week I’ve decided to share some poems that I love and I go back to, although for Thursday the poem is written by me!!
But first of all, three songs I’ve been listening to.
Also, I came across this poem that I wrote when I was 14 ! It was in my tumblr archive and I wanted to include it because I think they’d be happy with all I’ve accomplished in the present. It's also a sweet poem ahaha
Monday
This poem is by Keaton St. James. I love love love “you say my name and i want to knit// my bones into your bones, smooth away// the boundaries of our heartbeats.”
Tuesday
This poem is by Himani Bannerji.
Wednesday
This poem is by Katie Maria.
Thursday
I hope you can read my handwriting!
Friday
This poem is called ‘Jessica Gives Me A Chill Pill’ by Angie Sijun Lou.
Saturday
This poem is by Sandra Cisneros.
Sunday
This poem is by Maya Angelou.
I also wanted to share this extract! It feels like prose-poetry & it reads so beautifully, I go back to it often to read it out loud. It's part of a piece called ‘Wisconsin’ by Nicola Maye Goldberg! Here's the rest of the piece if you're interested, and this is a CONTENT WARNING for sexual assault.
Thank you for reading the newsletter this week <3 I want to end with a compilation of songs by Isaiah Rashad. It's a cool mix, I love his artistry & this got me through this week :)
With Love,
Oyinda