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Our fourth and final poet in this series is an absolute powerhouse, filled with beautiful and courageous authenticity. Today, we conclude our 4 Black Poets to Know series with Porsha Olayiwola!
From the moment I cracked open my fresh copy of i shimmer sometimes, too, I could hear the bass of Porsha Olayiwola’s voice echo through the pages. Titles of poems like “SOUTHSIDE APOCALYPSE” and “BLACK BODY WALKS TO THE CORNER STORE IN 13,839 PIECES” line the table of contents, serving as warning signs for the undeniable truths and unapologetic vulnerability Olayiwola has waiting ahead.
Porsha Olayiwola defines herself in the best way possible in the headline of her site, “Black: Writer. Performer. Futurist.”
Hailing from Chicago, Illinois, the Individual World Poetry Slam Champion now resides in Boston, Massachusetts. Porsha Olayiwola is currently the artistic director for MassLEAP (a youth literary organization). She’s also an MFA candidate at Emerson College and reigned as Boston’s poet laureate from 2020-2024. Olayiwola’s degree in African American Studies and Gender and Women Studies from the University of Illinois reflects the same subject matter her poetry and professional work revolve around. From co-founding poetry slam venues throughout Boston to initiating virtual poetry workshops during the pandemic, community is at the core of every single thing Olayiwola touches. Her enchanting poetry is no exception.
As humans, it becomes far too easy to find ways to separate ourselves from one another, creating an “us and them” society rather than a unified one. Porsha Olayiwola’s world, the world of a Black, queer, womanist, artist, is arguably the most overlooked and underrepresented group of humans in America. Yet, Olayiwola has dedicated her work to changing that narrative by serving as a voice for change.
Her willingness to break down the ins and outs of her world allows those who may think they have nothing in common with the poet to either, find similarities in overlapping challenges or gain a new perspective on a unique worldview. By playing with form, punctuation and everyday language, Olayiwola grabs her audience’s attention right from the start. It will be the surrealist, thought-provoking and insightful prose that will keep you waiting to see what magic Porsha Olayiwola will create next.
I Shimmer Sometimes, Too by Porsha Olayiwola
Porsha Olayiwola’s debut poetry collection soars with the power and presence of live performance.
These poems dip their hands into the fabric of black womanhood and revel in it. Shimmer establishes Olayiwola firmly in the lineage of black queer poetics, celebrating the work done by generations of poets from Audre Lorde to Danez Smith.
Each poem is a gentle breaking and an inventive reconstruction. This is a book of self and community-care―in pursuit of building a world that will not only keep you alive but will keep you joyful.
Advance praise for i shimmer sometime, too
In Porsha Olayiwola’s capable hands, language becomes elastic, becomes kaleidoscopic. i shimmer sometimes, too is cinematic, is magic, and graceful education in the possibilities of form
-Safia Elillo, Author Of The January Children
In language that is both pungent and poignant, Porsha Olayiwola plumbs a dispora of resilience, rich in ringshouts and inner-city blues chanted to the sky. i shimmer sometimes, too is luminous indeed.
-Jabari Asim, Author of We Can’t Breathe
Each poem is a lesson, a story, a mirror that Olayiwola holds up to ensure we pay attention to that which we may have overlooked.
-Clint Smith, Author of Counting Descent
More to love by Porsha Olayiwola:
- Porsha Olayiwola- Unnamed (Poetry Performance Video)
- how to make yourself small – Porsha Olayiwola
- ‘Boston Ode’: A Poem by Poet Laureate Porsha Olayiwola
Featured image by Tatiana Johnson
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