Hello everyone and welcome to Garcia’s Guide to BIPOC Authors! I decided to write a blog dedicated to BIPOC authors after reading and looking at The Vida Count, which highlights imbalance in publishing by collecting data. Unfortunately, diversity in publishing (albeit getting better) is still concerning. Moreover, reading classical literature has left me with a need to discover voices and perspectives outside of the literary canon which tends to house primarily white authors. This is not to say that the literary canon does not have timeless and well developed pieces of literature, but I got tired of hearing stories about people of color from those that are not in that community.
As an Indigenous American (on my mother’s side) and Puerto Rican (on my father’s side), I feel as if I have some obligation to uplift communities that have been historically marginalized. Following Royster’s commentary, I will not speak for those outside of my community, but instead I would like to offer a promotion and recommendation of authors from various communities. In this series, I would like to highlight some of my favorite authors, both classic and contemporary.
In the words of Jacqueline Jones Royster-“I have been compelled on too many occasions to count to sit as well-mannered Other, silently, in a state of tolerance that requires me to be as expressionless as I can manage, while colleagues who occupy a place of entitlement different from my own talk about the history and achievements of people from my ethnic group” from “When The First Voice Your Hear is Not Your Own.”
This week, I have decided to start with Aricka Foreman. Foreman is an African American author originally from Detroit, Michigan but currently spending time in Chicago, Illinois. She is a poet, essayist, editor, and educator with publications in Buzzfeed, Black Warrior Review, RHINO, and Academy of American Poets. She has released two books, Dream with a Glass Chamber, and Salt Body Shimmer.
Most recently, I have read Salt Body Shimmer published by YesYes Books in August of 2020. Salt Body Shimmer does what all good poetry does: it makes you feel. With poem topics ranging from memories and dedications to violence and dread, Salt Body Shimmer delivers a beautiful truth of strong, unbroken women at the heart of pain, history, and life.
My favorite piece from the collection is entitled “Consent Is A Labyrinth of Yes.” The poem tells the dark story in which no means yes, an awful reality for women across the world. With lines like, “For a friend’s father who stood stoic in the doorway, / asks you to stay, television glow casting shadows across his face,” Foreman creates beautifully disturbing images that result in a feeling of grief and overwhelm that bring the story into fruition, allowing the reader to be one with the content.
Though, this poem is not just a series of images, but a masterclass in stylistic choice and form as shown in: “History is a dangerous legacy of / learning he says.” The enjambed lines leave you breathless and furthers the overwhelming sensation that the reader feels, mimicking what women feel during such cruel and dreadful acts. When the poem ends, you feel as if a piece of you has gone with it.
Most of Aricka’s poems have a similar effect. Her voice is strong, powerful, and the emotion behind each piece flies off of the page and into the reader’s psyche leaving them to question their experiences and what they know.
I was lucky enough to hear Aricka read for Jet Fuel Review in December of 2023, prior to my position as an editor. The way in which she read allowed the audience to engage with something much larger than them. We no longer sat in a room amongst fifty other people. Instead, we, as individuals, were alone, hearing the strength of womanhood unfold in every stanza, line, and word spoken aloud.
Outside of her compelling works of womanhood, Foreman tells her account of what it is like being a black woman in today’s world in “Monologues in Bars By White People With Good Intentions.” In an unstoppable prose poem, Foreman highlights the plethora of microaggressions said to her, and many BIPOC. When it comes to Foreman’s resume, activist is just another title to be added to it.
Read more about Aricka Foreman here
– Kandace Garcia, Marketing Editor and Blogger.
Kandace Garcia- Asst. Poetry Editor, Asst. Prose Editor, Marketing Editor & Blogger: Kandace is a senior at Lewis University majoring in English with a concentration in Literature and Language. She is currently employed at the university’s Writing Center where she mentors fellow students. When not at school, you can find her at the gym, various escape rooms, or binge-watching horror films while cuddling her four dogs. Kandace hopes to further her education in order to reach her goal of becoming an English professor.