black writers
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Beyond the Blue
Vibrantly glowing inside a dark hall, a small ball of fire burned suspended midair. The flaming orb bounced upward, lingering shortly, before landing in Princess Inara’s palm. Her brown eyes stared intently into the flame as if it were a mystical crystal ball. Unfortunately, she found no answers to her problems hidden within the circular…
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Dominate
I wanted to believe it didn’t mean anything. The smell of whiskey on his breath. The hurried kiss and his tongue latched around my left nipple. The gentle suckling as my abrasive wool sweater remained bunched against my throat. I told myself it meant nothing and I was nothing but an ends to a means.…
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The Takedown
“And that was when Mr. Bailey groped you?” the human resources manager’s face showed no trace of emotion. He had put a box of tissues on the table, setting it down with a dull thud. The tissue sticking up looked like a staircase that went nowhere. “Yes,” Megan said. “He closed the blinds, locked the…
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Birthday Boy
Kuokoa B. Mchango was certain that it was the last night he would be alive, for you see, tomorrow was his 28th birthday. As he lay in his fold-out cot and stared at the low ceiling, he realized with a twinge of sadness that this fact didn’t bother him nearly as much as it used…
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We Head South
October 17—9:43 p.m. EST The two gradually exited Carmine’s restaurant in midtown Manhattan, fully satisfied and slightly tipsy from the fine cuisine and red wine. As they made their way onto the other side of the restaurant door, the cool October night air immediately greeted them. “Wow,” Marie uttered through a smile. “It really got…
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Champion
I like to tell folks I don’t have a storyBut I also like to fuck with peopleThat in itself tells a story.You confused yet?Good, now we have something in commonI think that’s how friendships begin.Not sure if I can maintain it but that’s part of the story tooPay attention to the detailsThat’s where the angels…
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All Hail the Homegirl Intervention: Brittney Cooper Praises the Power of Black Female Friendships in Eloquent Rage
Editor’s note: This is the second of a two-part interview about Brittney Cooper’s book Eloquent Rage. Most of my best friendships have started with good conversations—I’d hazard a guess that most of yours have, too. So when I found myself in a genuinely good conversation with author and feminist scholar Brittney Cooper about her incredible…
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Eloquent Rage: Brittney Cooper Knows the Beauty of the ‘Angry Black Woman’
Author, intellectual and educator Brittney Cooper is a Black Feminist; capital “B,” capital “F.” It’s a distinction so important it’s the title of a chapter in her latest book, a groundbreaking work titled Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower, out now on St. Martin’s Press. Of course, some know Cooper better as a…
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Fishbone
I’m not going to kill myself. I yelled it out early this morning when my mother woke me up. “I AM NOT GOING TO FUCKING KILL MYSELF!” is exactly how I said it when she came busting into my room demanding that I get my clothes on to go to meet Jesus. Two days ago…