If you know me, you know that one of my favorite things to do is read poetry and listen to poetry being performed. I wanted to be sure this resource guide included a few poems that lit fire in my soul, so here I present to you, just that.

This will be a working list of poems and videos that I will continue to add to as I go through the flagged poems and bookmarks in my library. If you have any you’d like to share, I welcome them in my comments.

I also found a few cool online libraries that you can visit and explore:

https://poets.org/anthology/black-lives-matter

https://wordpress.com/discover-wordpress/2020/06/10/black-lives-matter-six-poems/

https://buttonpoetry.com/tag/black-lives-matter/

ALSO LITERALLY ANY POEM BY MY FAVORITE POET, MAYA ANGELOU.

• “never
  trust anyone
  who says
  they do not see color.
  this means
  to them,
  you are invisible.”
  ― Nayyirah Waheed

• Rudy Francisco, “Adrenaline Rush” (Click here to listen) [I had the honor of watching him perform this live, and think of his words and my privilege often when I’m doing my extreme outdoors activities]

• DIASPORA #1, KHALYPSO (Click here for more)

  • my joy is a dead language.
    cherubs sob when i pass them by
    as if my fingers carry the wilt
    of baby’s breath. i lie in bed & suddenly
    i’m closer to my ghosts.
    another boy tells me he loves me &
    i cannot look him in the eye. another
    mother says, “smile, child,” & the clouds
    open up to swallow me whole.

    the last time i loved, the words died in my belly.
    the sparks quit next, & then the boy.
    i say i cannot carry another day & the shadows
    rejoice. i say i’m going to love me today
    & i can hear laughter.

    worry about me. i am not well. a child
    has gone missing within me & left
    not even detritus. all the things in this world
    set to kill me encroach upon
    the one smile i can offer a new day.
    i have said it once & if i do not say
    it again, the tigers clawing the insides
    of my brain will never sleep: home is nowhere
    when you are a stolen thing. an heirloom of haint
    & hate.

• T. Miller, “Ten Things You Sound Like When You Say AllLivesMatter in Response to BlackLivesMatter” (Button Poetry)

  • Click here for the video

• Still I Rise, By Maya Angelou

  You may write me down in history
  With your bitter, twisted lies,
  You may tread me in the very dirt
  But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

  Does my sassiness upset you?
  Why are you beset with gloom?
  ‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
  Pumping in my living room.

  Just like moons and like suns,
  With the certainty of tides,
  Just like hopes springing high,
  Still I’ll rise.

  Did you want to see me broken?
  Bowed head and lowered eyes?
  Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
  Weakened by my soulful cries.

  Does my haughtiness offend you?
  Don’t you take it awful hard
  ‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
  Diggin’ in my own back yard.

  You may shoot me with your words,
  You may cut me with your eyes,
  You may kill me with your hatefulness,
  But still, like air, I’ll rise.

  Does my sexiness upset you?
  Does it come as a surprise
  That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
  At the meeting of my thighs?

  Out of the huts of history’s shame
  I rise
  Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
  I rise
  I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
  Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
  Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
  I rise
  Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
  I rise
  Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
  I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
  I rise
  I rise
  I rise.

• Literally any poem (also writing) by James Baldwin too, but I’ll put one below

  • Lord,

                when you send the rain,

                think about it, please,

                a little?

         Do

                not get carried away

                by the sound of falling water,

                the marvelous light

                on the falling water.

            I

                am beneath that water.

                It falls with great force

                and the light

    Blinds

                me to the light.

                  — Untitled

• *these are only a few I will be adding more