I Carry My Grief With Me, but I Also Carry My Joy
The domino effect of anguish and loss unmoors, but a Black poet-anthropologist carries their joy as ritual—in the palms of their hands, soft, delicate.
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 a Ph.D. student in anthropology at American University and the 2020–2021 poet-in-residence at SAPIENS. Follow them on Twitter @jd_thewright.
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Lead Me to Life: Voices of the African Diaspora
Through poetry and prose, anthropologists of the African diaspora unveil the echoes of the past in the present.
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And You Watch as We Make Woodwater Again
SAPIENS poet-in-residence Justin D. Wright speaks to the elemental craft of Black survival, photosynthesis, and sweet tea making in an anti-Black racist society.
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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.
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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.