Honorée Fanonne Jeffers is the author of three books of poetry, The Gospel of Barbecue, Outlandish Blues, and Red Clay Suite.
She has received an award from the Rona Jaffe Foundation, and fellowships from the American Antiquarian Society, the Bread Loaf Writers Conference, and the MacDowell Colony. Her poetry has appeared in various journals, including American Poetry Review, Brilliant Corners: A Journal of Jazz and Literature, The Gettysburg Review, The Iowa Review, Ploughshares, and in over a dozen anthologies. A native southerner, she now lives on the prairie where she is Associate Professor of English at the University of Oklahoma.
Friday
Apr
19
Honorée Fanonne Jeffers - Poetry
Honorée Fanonne Jeffers is the author of three books of poetry, The Gospel of Barbecue, Outlandish Blues, and Red Clay Suite.
She has received an award from the Rona Jaffe Foundation, and fellowships from the American Antiquarian Society, the Bread Loaf Writers Conference, and the MacDowell Colony. Her poetry has appeared in various journals, including American Poetry Review, Brilliant Corners: A Journal of Jazz and Literature, The Gettysburg Review, The Iowa Review, Ploughshares, and in over a dozen anthologies. A native southerner, she now lives on the prairie where she is Associate Professor of English at the University of Oklahoma.
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Following (#5)
There is some blessedness
each of us brings into a room
whether or not we sing
the praises of a named god
Allow me a breaking down
We is more than one
so I’m talking to you
Hear me out before you confuse me
with the maddened masses
who confuse faith
with blood and storms
I know I’m weak
because I need something
I need to hope
the chrysalis of Word
won’t take me at my worst
This is spirit
This is the clasping of my
hands as I kneel before a rock
that I am praying will speak
but never does
Look
I’m not trying to take you away
from the world