The Power of Poetry

Sisterhood, love, and Black Girl joy was so evident at our recent meetup to celebrate National Poetry Month. We opened up, laughed, cried, and released. And what made this event even more special, we were joined again by Ayo Sekai, Ph.D., our featured poet, who shared poems from her newly released book, “A2: A Scholarly Poetical Science Discourse.” And we also had the pleasure of having the 2023 Prince George’s County Poet Laureate Khadijah Z. Ali-Coleman, Ed.D. join us!

As with most events, we started the event by picking an intention word to reflect on. This time, we picked an intention word to write an “I am” poem using a template or freestyle. Some words we picked included, “Faith,” “Discipline,” “Process,” “Simplicity,”and “Overcome.” We shared poems on overcoming life journeys, using God’s angels to get through a process, having trust in faith, and more.

“…Overcoming may be a negative journey that provides enlightment.” - Ms. Jacqueline

After we did our opening activity, we introduced our featured poet! Dr. Sekai earned her Ph.D. in Political Science from Howard University. Her research specializations in Black Politics and International Relations frame her research as a linguistic imperialist scholar, which she uses to interrogate the legacy of oppression. Her new book "A2," applies poetry as a methodology as evidence to document and frame social science inquiry and oral history.

Ayo shared her poem, “Black Card Revolt,” which shines a light on how all Black folks are not kin folks.

“Skin folks ain’t necessarily kin folks

And just because you look like me doesn’t necessarily mean we’re equally yolked...” -  Ayo Sekai

She then shared her poem “Black Code” and closed with “That Girl” a moving declaration of the divine beauty and power Black women possess

“A blink of an eye I turn water into sand.

I can copulate, translate, ovulate, and give life to Pharaoh

In Eden, I mesmerized the snake

 Transfixed by my thighs

 With fluidity I revitalized…” - Ayo Sekai

After Dr. Sekai shared her poems, we did our self-care card activity #45 Follow a Trail of Words. This activity encourages you to pick out words from a book that speaks to you and reflect on thoughts and feelings that come up. Many of us used Ayo’s book for this activity, even reciting her poems. 

One woman spoke on how her poem, “American Dream,” made her think about her own experience living the American Dream growing up in Montgomery, Alabama.

Another woman was moved to tears when she recited Dr. Sekai’s poem, “I Found Me,” sharing how it reminds her of her journey coming into womanhood.

Dr. Khadijah chose to recite “All Woman,” and shared how it took her back to when she wrote her poem, “We Women,” which she also recited.

We even shared some of our original poetry. MQC’s Andrea shared her poem, “What is Love.”

And another spoken word artist, Crystal Lyn shared her poem, “Vulnerability." 

We are so thankful that poetry brought us together for such a beautiful event, and we thank everyone who joined us. A special thanks goes to Dr. Sekai and Dr. Ali-Coleman for joining us. We also thank Barnes & Noble of Bowie for sharing your space for us to celebrate National Poetry Month.