BIO
Janel Cloyd is a poet, fiction writer and essayist. She has been awarded Artists Fellowships and Residencies with DreamYard, Willow Arts Alliance with history concentration in the Weeksville African American Cultural Arts Center. She is Watering Hole Poetry Fellow. Publications include: The Black Lives Have Always Mattered Anthology edited by Abiodun Oyewole of the Last Poets, Mujeres, The Movement, & The Muse Anthology, About Place Journal, Peregrine Journal, The Yellow Chair, Poeming Pigeon and Cave Canem Digital, Gathering Round. Cloyd is a mixed media artist with a concentration in collage, paper arts, fiber, poetry, text and images. Her work explores and embraces the themes of womanhood, spirituality and the body aesthetic.
Our bodies have always
been spark against the flint
We have survived
the worst of living
with a glint still left
in our eyes
Our humanity allows us
to believe kindness
lives in all human hearts
We cannot forget
there exists a living breathing
thing that will snatch
the weakest amongst us
and use our bones as kindling
It will sip our molten bone marrow
and hide our screams
in its laughter
This demon is legend
but not powerful enough
to penetrate the prayers
the Ancestors layered on
our melanated skin
Whatever tries to swallow whole
will digest a riot.