The Cookout (and All Other Manners of Heavenly Black Things)
An anthropologist's poem crafts a dream of freedom, peace, and joyous celebration for Black folks who have died as a result of anti-Black and anti-queer violence.
Justin D. Wright
Justin D. Wright is a sociocultural anthropologist, performance studies scholar, theater artist, and performance poet. In both their scholarly and artistic pursuits, Wright is concerned with notions of national and cultural memories, transgenerational traumas, Black grief, and Black and Black-queer identity-making. Their work seeks to understand how Black people might craft from that pain, grief, and trauma something breathtakingly beautiful—and from that beauty, freedom and liberation. Wright holds an M.A. in theater and performance studies from Washington University in St. Louis. Wright is currently a Ph.D. student in anthropology at American University and the poet-in-residence at SAPIENS. Follow them on Twitter @jd_thewright.
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Hush-Hush, a Pale-Horse Cometh: Mirabilis Manducat
An anthropologist traces a lineage of plague, silence, anti-Black racism, white supremacy, and cities.
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Siege
A Black anthropologist's poem speaks to anti-Blackness, white supremacy, police brutality and murder, and trans/queer hate and violence.
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The National Lynching Memorial Speaks to My Black ’Bama Body OR Imma Be Here Forever, You Gon’ Remember This
A SAPIENS poetry contest winner immerses himself in a new memorial dedicated to the lynching of more than 4,400 people between 1877 and 1950 in the United States.