The opposites are interesting, beginning with the title.

Repetition, including slight variations, gives the poem a liturgical feel

But in the final few lines there is resilience & resistance against systemic limits on survival – a refusal to be silenced

#poetry
#poemoftheday
#blackhistorymonth

As we face a winter of rising prices & fuel costs, how common will this scene be?

The poem's power lies in acute observation & unsentimental tone

How you can be sustained by each other & memories when you have little more than a room of cluttered pasts

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#poemoftheday
#blackhistorymonth

There are few poets with the audacity or credibility to write this poem

Honestly, I think the poet has sold herself short!

This poem challenges beauty standards, which have often excluded Black women, and replaces them with a more grounded model of beauty

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#poemoftheday
#blackhistorymonth

Delighted to have performed last night at the Frances Browne Literary Festival with Sheddas on the Page & to be placed 3rd in the poetry competition

The highlight of the night was the incredible Armagh Rhymers, keeping the ancient art of ‘Mumming’ alive

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#poemoftheday
#seamusheaneysunday

Today is #WorldMentalHealthDay

People you care about will be feeling like the speaker in this poem. Check in on them. #AskTwice

If you are feeling like the speaker reach out for help

What we need most is love & what we need to do most is give love

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#poemoftheday
#blackhistorymonth

This poem sets out the body as wounded and miraculous.
 
It is about survival & reclamation of power
 
There is such depth in the images, there is music in these lines, this is a poem to read out loud and slowly
 
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#poemoftheday
#blackhistorymonth

This poem speaks of the intersection between race & gender. How a lack of role models can place self-limits on one’s aspirations

But there is resilience and self-reliance too – not as a romantic notion, but a necessity

‘a bridge between starshine and clay’

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#poemoftheday
#blackhistorymonth

I can’t help but notice the irony that World Cotton Day occurs during Black History month.

The poem imagines a future in which liberty isn’t an abstract concept or political slogan but a everyday reality.

Recently it feels like we are going backwards

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#poemoftheday
#blackhistorymonth

This tiny poem carries the full weight of the atrocity – the bombing by the police of the MOVE residence in Philadelphia

11 people were killed including 5 children. It is alleged police shot people escaping from the burning building

That 2-word final line!

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#poemoftheday
#blackhistorymonth