Tichaona Chinyelu

  • Chloe and Yvonne (Chapter 1.0)

    Once again, I am inking a new address on the envelope that contains the briefings my dad demands. It is only now that I pick up on the long-established pattern. Our frequent moves are tied to his. Every time he’s transferred, my mother relocates the family. We orbit my father like the earth does the…

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  • Older than Hip Hop

    Before 16 bars imprisoned words, before rhymes were as predictable as a cop’s nightstick upside your head, my pen positioned itself in the continuum of black words. Shaka Zulu and Uhuru are the main threads of my weave so there’s no need for me to loom larger than sacred life. I’ll leave that to you…

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  • Sugar Blues

    The ONE poem I have, deliberately, withheld from publishing (in my books) because one day, I want to devote a whole book to the “concern” and donate all proceeds to an anti-rape organization yet to be determined. Sugar Blues My almost thirteen year old self was more overwhelmed by the endless mug shots of black…

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  • Land of Lincoln (They Say)

    They say that Illinois is the land of Lincoln And that Springfield is the heart of that land. They say that Lincoln was ugly, morose and awkward And that despite his character flaws he should be honored For keeping the country together For freeing Africans from chattel slavery. They say, they say, they say Until…

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  • Requiem for L

    Requiem for L Days of wine and roses were never a part of my twenty-four except once. Understanding my need to sip and sniff, he brought me Ethiopian honey wine and Somali Rose incense. Understanding his need to make a dollar out of fifteen cents, I stood beside him on Oakland corners selling good smells.…

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  • Gaza and the UN Resolution, by Noam Chomsky

    Originally posted on word pond: Palestine 2012 — Gaza and the UN resolution, by Noam Chomsky

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  • How Do You Build a Union for the 21st Century? (Step 1: Learn From History) – Sara Horowitz – The Atlantic

    I was once a member of an union.  The union I was in didn’t follow the lead of labor activist Sidney Hillman. It was a “typical” style union in that it collected dues that it did who-knew-what with the dues it received. Therefore reading the article linked below was educational. I didn’t know there were…

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  • An Open Letter to Those Colleges and Universities that have Assigned Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks as the “Common” Freshmen Reading for the Class of 2016 | Brown Town

    An Open Letter to Those Colleges and Universities that have Assigned Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks as the “Common” Freshmen Reading for the Class of 2016 | Brown Town. Excerpt from the letter: What makes the racism of Skloot’s account all the more insidious is that she could have foreclosed my accusation…

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  • Alphabet Orchestra – S.J. Mallory

    I read this beautiful poem by S.J. Mallory on Goodreads and requested his permission to post it here. If you agree with me on its beauty, please visit his website. Enjoy! Alphabet Orchestra The writer’s quest is to put into words the burnished wonderment of a violin. For his pencil to carve his lines on…

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  • La Guerre (5) ee cummings

    La Guerre V O sweet spontaneous earth how often have the doting fingers of prurient philosophers pinched and poked thee ,had the haughty thumb of science prodded thy beauty         ,how often have religions taken thee upon their scraggy knees squeezing and buffetting thee that thou mightiest conceive gods (but true to…

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