Essence Magazine's 40 Favorite Poets

To celebrate Essence Magazine's 40th Anniversary, they've posted a list of their favorite Black poetesses. It's a pretty fabulous list filled lots of heavy hitters of the word-space - Phillis Wheatley, Audre Lorde, Elizabeth Alexander, Maya Angelou, Lucille Clifton...the list goes on an on. My favorite part is that they included little snippets of the most famous pieces of each poet. I've included the ones I absolutely adored below. Of course they are love poems...you know me all too well:-)

Enjoy! Check out the full list here.


Did This Happen To Your Mother? Did Your Sister Throw Up A Lot?
BY Alice Walker

“I thought love would adapt itself to my needs.
But needs grow too fast;
they come up like weeds.
Through cracks in the conversation.
Through silences in the dark.”


Loving Again
BY Gloria Wade-Gayles

“Last night
we loved as if the gods
had announced only to us
that they sky would fall
while we slept."