kendra n. bryant aya

I prefer to write poetry, although, admittedly, I'd rather read collected essays over compiled poems. Nonetheless, composing poetry places me in a meditative space that invites me to be mindfully careful and succinct about that or for whom I am writing. I find when I  write poetry, I mull over the poem for days--years even. When I am working on a poem, I am also resting--leaning into, really--my feelings. Although I also enjoy composing the creative non-fiction essay, I don't feel as contemplative writing it as I do writing the poem. 

Phew. Sonia Sanchez and her blues haiku and tanka writing have inspirited so much of my writing as has Amiri Baraka's and Nikki Giovanni's Black Arts Movement style. I am also quite drawn to the literary genius of Alice Walker, Lucille Clifton, Maya Angelou, Lauryn Hill, Mos Def, and Kanye West.