Author Archives: Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD

there are works that need doing fires need to be lit graves need digging some things must die so that we might live nature’s law not mine things outgrow usefulness sun sets on them and cobwebs occur things will be … Continue reading →

words brought me the world helped me to unfold it place it on a map see it clearly colored it textured it roughly to cover the places words can’t make clear when they lie on their backs bending over to … Continue reading →

the reverent  stand prayerfully in church offering testimony the stage my church this my testimony this is a testament of calluses bent backs that sing pain in repose bear weight in motion a prayer an animate hallelujah God’s breath moving … Continue reading →

applause reverberates the audience stands the world stops my heart explodes gratitude overflows the story has been told we have sung the song the ritual is done what has been wrought is alive standing beside me as we take a … Continue reading →

living for more than right now slipped some how through an open door freedom rider mounted by godz flying knowing everything that rises falls we like our hero’s shadows to cover the cracked walls bridge over pits into which we … Continue reading →

We are nearing the end of the road. Only King Hedley, II and Radio Golf stand between us and the completion of The American Century Cycle in chronological order. Our walk with Wilson is coming to its end. But the … Continue reading →

Blood is a motif in King Hedley, II. It is a strong and instructive note. It signals the life and death struggle to create and maintain life in marginalized spaces. The tension between the discussion of abortions and blood feuds … Continue reading →

Tonya does not want to have anymore children. Not in a world where “their friends might, kill them, the police might kill them, in a world that don’t respect life.” She says her 17 year old daughter with a baby … Continue reading →