Omotara James

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Articles

“Kiese Says, Black People Deserve Beautiful Sentences, but a Fragment is the Best I Can Do / Songbook for the Names I Have Been Called,” a Poem by Omotara James

Jul 15, 2024 | lithub.com | Omotara James

Kiese Says, Black People Deserve Beautiful Sentences, but a Fragment is the Best I Can Do / Songbook for the Names I Have Been Called Article continues below I might be The most beautiful Black bitch you’ve ever seen The least original sunrise I might be darker than the dark velvet of the moon Might be the slow creep of comfort edging you back Might be joy’s affirmative call to action Be the huckleberry grown fat, fuck with sweetness Be the ugly moan of pleasure bust open Be As lopsided as...
2023 Small Press Gift Guide

Nov 30, 2023 | bombmagazine.org | Omotara James |Erin Taylor |Tobias Carroll |Lynn Schmeidler

BOMB looks back at the books from small and independent presses we featured in 2023 and helps you pair them with the idiosyncratic readers in your life. We’re grateful to all of the independent publishers out there for championing new and exciting voices—and for the conversations that they’ve inspired in BOMB. ACTION BOOKS My Jewel Box by Ursula Andkjær OlsenFor the avid Pixar consumer who cries during WALL-E.
The Nation Poetry Reading Series Presents: Maggie Smith, Charif Shanahan, and Omotara James

Jun 15, 2023 | thenation.com | Charif Shanahan |Omotara James |Maggie Smith

Please join us for a virtual reading featuring poets from the magazine’s pages hosted by Nation Poetry Editor Kaveh Akbar on Thursday, June 29 at 4PM PT/7PM ET. Audience questions will follow individual readings. Related Articles Free of charge (but registration required).
Song of My Softening

Jun 14, 2023 | bookshop.org | Omotara James

About the Author Omotara James is a writer, editor and visual artist. She is the author of the chapbook Daughter Tongue, selected by African Poetry Book Fund, in collaboration with Akashic Books, for the 2018 New Generation African Poets Box Set. A two-time Pushcart Prize nominee, she is a recipient of the 2019 92Y Discovery Poetry Prize. She earned her BA from Hofstra University and received her MFA from New York University.
Closure

Jun 5, 2023 | guernicamag.com | Omotara James

My parents were scheduled to divorce on Valentine’s Day. I was there in the beginning, sat next to my grandmother,in her teal blue dress and hot combed strands. As a rule,she refused to appear unrefined. In a warm church in Trinidad,a wedding evening in hurricane season, we wore our Sunday best,my mother and I, in matching white lace and wide eyes. Why shouldn’t this bond be marked by an angel with an arrow,tasked to put an end to the sorrow of suffering alonelove meant to be shared.
Closure - Guernica Magazine

Jun 5, 2023 | scribd.com | Omotara James

Save for Later Save Closure For LaterMy parents were scheduled to divorce on Valentine’s Day. I was there in the beginning, sat next to my grandmother,
Proper Fat

May 13, 2023 | thenation.com | Omotara James |Mychal Denzel Smith

Thin with disgust Fat with wordless joy And patience Thin like the opening of the gate You pray you’ll make it through Fat like the other side Fat with pubescence With moonstone or pearl Thin protection Fat as the ripe earth, before it was turned The black soil, a dense fruit, unwavering The fat trench of the womb You share with your sisters Fat like forgiveness and God’s Grace that delivers you From the enemy of yourself Proper fat Fat like a second, third and fourth chance As the number of...
After the Last Calorie of the Apocalypse / Prayer for the Clinically Obese

May 8, 2023 | thecommononline.org | Omotara James

By OMOTARA JAMES On the last day, let there be a fat inhalationof delight between the lap of our sunrise. As the tongue separates the doubt from the cream,let pleasure sift through the metal strainer of time. Onlyhours now. Waiting for the thin people in my life to die,I read a magazine, have sex, smoke a cigarette andride the elevator down to the lobby. We’ve only minutesnow. Having nothing against them, personally, unlike artthey don’t improve much upon the original form.
The Lose Your Mother Suite VI. “across the surface of my studied speech” by Remica Bingham-Risher - Poems | Academy of American Poets

Feb 17, 2023 | poets.org | Remica Bingham-Risher |Bettina Judd |Kaveh Akbar |Omotara James

Mess like this sullies everything: my grandmother will call and say Who’s that white lady on your answering machine? She will laugh and I will wonder what’s missing? (What did I forget? What does it mean to lose your mother? Am I brilliant yet?) Pretty-mouthed girl with perfect diction. How my teachers praised me. Didn’t they love my lost convention, were they equipped to raise me?