Oh, how she read this. Girl
beloved daughter of daughters
blood, kin, and kind
sagacious grammarian
post-fly phoneticist
every syllable she say be sapphires
Oh, how she read that Girl
beloved daughter of daughters
blood, kin, and kind
sassy semiotician
post-def decoder
every book she crack parts oceans,
sends waves rushing back to their shores
every page she turn sets free a caged bird,
whose wings are spread and ready for flight
Oh, how she read, this Girl
beloved daughter of daughters
blood, kin, and kind,
post-dope dissenter
mos-bomb seditionist
every word she speak be a teeth-sucking act of resistance
every word she write be a battle cry
every tap of her pen be the beat of an ancestor's drum
Grade levels
7-9 / Sec. 1-3
Moods
Common Poetic Terms and Forms
Contest Criteria
Bibliographical info
Note from the author: students might consider thinking of ways we communicate not in words, like sighs, sounds, shrugs, gestures--that is what the marks in the book communicate--other ways of communicating...maybe they can think of a word or a gesture in their own languages that fills in that space or launches the poem--or maybe it's a breath or silence...
Chantal Gibson, "How She Read" from How She Read. Copyright © 2019 by Chantal Gibson. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
Source: How She Read (Caitlin Press Inc, 2019)
