News:
  • Women Directors 2021
  • Ma Rainey Sings the Blues with Passion and Rage
  • Kareem Tayyar and the Complexities of Joy
  • LIFE AFTER BIRTH APPLAUDS IMPEACHMENT NUMBER 2
  • Poets on Craft: Stephen Kampa and Chelsea Woodward
  • Signs and the City
  • Contact us
  • About
    • What is Cultural Weekly?
    • Advertise
    • Contributors
    • Masthead
    • Subscribe
    • Submissions: Write for us
    • Cultural Weekly Style & Formatting Guide
  • Contact us
  • About
    • What is Cultural Weekly?
    • Advertise
    • Contributors
    • Masthead
    • Subscribe
    • Submissions: Write for us
    • Cultural Weekly Style & Formatting Guide
Cultural Weekly logo
  • Film
  • TV + Web
  • Poetry
  • Art
  • Architecture
  • Literature
  • Theatre
  • Music
  • Dance
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Film
  • TV + Web
  • Poetry
  • Art
  • Architecture
  • Literature
  • Theatre
  • Music
  • Dance
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
#BlackLivesMatter

Darlene Kriesel: “I Raised Her”

By Darlene Kriesel on June 17, 2020 in Poetry

Click Here To View Comments

I Raised Her

I did not deliberate for days and days
over what would be my baby’s name
while she kicked, tossed and turned, then
slept in my womb while I caressed her
through the skin of my belly,
comforted I could protect
her because she and I
were still part of the same form,
yet full of wonder on what she
would become; would she have
my short nose or her father’s
long one? Would her eyes be
deep set or burst forward with
the curiosity of a scholar?

I did not do this so that one day
her name would be listed
under those of the dead.

I did not part my baby’s hair down the middle,
smooth pink lotion through each section,
grab 3 handfuls of hair and twist and smooth,
twist and smooth until I got to the end, grab a tiny
black rubber band, pull it open with my teeth,
wrap it 3 times around the end of her
hair every day until, at the age
of twelve, she begged to do it herself,
for you to bust open her apartment
door, because you can’t read or you can’t see,
or you can’t listen to directions, or you declared
you were going to kill somebody black tonight, and
unload eight bullets into her promise, her
dreams, her right to be on her couch and
do nothing but breathe.

I did not go to JC Penney’s
when she was thirteen and in between
sizes, hushing her cries
with cheers of “You are beautiful”
and “Those pants fit, they just need a little
hem,” trying to build her up and crush
the pre-teen awkward hate she’d unloaded
onto her body.

I did not do this for you to come
crashing through her fortress
of plans laid and unknown,
into her protected space
where she was free
to bring her knees to her chest
in thought or open
up like a beautiful
brown canvas full of
laughter and wonder
and tear holes into her body
I helped strengthen to love
itself and whose body she did love.

I raised my daughter
To live.

Click Here To View Comments

TagsBIPOC voicesBlack lives matterdarlene krieselpoempoetry

Previous Story

#DANCEFORAOC!

Next Story

Forget Entourage — Migrate to Outlook with Ease

About the author

Darlene Kriesel

Darlene Kriesel

Darlene Kriesel is a Southern California based writer and educator. She holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of California at Riverside/Palm Desert. She writes on education, social justice, and mothering.

Related Posts

  • Poets on Craft: Stephen Kampa and Chelsea Woodward

    By Bunkong Tuon
    Poets on Craft is a cyberspace for...
  • Kai Coggin: “Trying On Your Eyebrows (for Frida Kahlo)”

    By Kai Coggin
    Trying On Your Eyebrows (for Frida Kahlo) I...
  • They Write by Night, “Trump in Hell”
    — in this episode’s poem and, elsewhere, in life

    By Suzanne Lummis
    Noir Now: Power and Corruption Sometimes...
  • Peter Neil Carroll: Two Poems

    By Peter Neil Carroll
    Hitchhiker Driving through blue-collar...

Support Our Friends

Follow Us

Join Our Mailing List

Latest Tweets

Tweets by @CulturalWeekly

Comments

  • maurice amiel maurice amiel
    A Case Against New Year’s Resolutions
    Here is an interesting new voice: candid,...
    1/14/2021
  • Matthew R. Matthew R.
    A Taste of Gypsy Boots
    Thank you Gypsy, for being brave in your new...
    1/8/2021
  • maurice amiel maurice amiel
    Bye Bye 2020 … a mute testimony
    given the events at the US Capitol of January 6th...
    1/7/2021

New

  • Never Been Suspicious Of Buying Instagram Likes? Think Again
  • One a Kind Gift Ideas For Couples
  • Women Directors 2021
  • FIVE PLUS ANDY & JERRY & MORE
  • Support the Jack Grapes Poetry Prize

Tags

art dance film Los Angeles music photography poem poems poetry tomorrow's voices today

Like us

Please Help

Donate

Who are we?

Cultural Weekly is a place to talk about our creative culture with passion, perspective and analysis – and more words than “thumbs up” or “thumbs down.” Our mission is to draw attention to our cultural environment, illuminate it, and make it ... read more

Site map

  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact us
  • Contributors
  • Cultural Weekly Style & Formatting Guide
  • Food
  • Home
  • Masthead
  • Privacy Policy/Do Not Sell My Personal Information
  • Submission Form
  • Submissions: Write for us
  • Subscribe
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Thank You

Links

Adam Leipzig
Entertainment Media Partners
This Is Crowd
CreativeFuture
Plastic Oceans Foundation
Arts & Letters Daily
Alltop
Alexis Rhone Fancher
Jack Grapes
Ethan Bearman
Writ Large Press

Mailing List

* indicates required


  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy/Do Not Sell My Personal Information
  • Contact us
Cultural Weekly is the digital magazine and public platform of Next Echo Foundation. DONATE HERE.
Copyright © 2010-2020 by Adam Leipzig. All Rights Reserved.