Born and raised in California, devorah major served as San Francisco’s Third Poet Laureate (2002-2006). In 2020 she toured Southern Italy where her sixth book of poetry with open arms was released in a bilingual edition. A Willow Books Editor’s Choice her seventh book of poetry Califia’s Daughter was published by Aquarius Press in 2020. Her other five poetry books are: and then we became, with more than tongue, where river meets ocean, street smarts (Winner PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Literary Excellence Award), and travelling women (with Opal Palmer Adisa). major also has four poetry chapbooks, two biographies for young adults, and a host of short stories, essays, and individual poems published in anthologies and periodicals as well as two novels Brown Glass Windows and An Open Weave (winner of ALA Black Caucus First Novel Award) Ms. Major is featured on a number of CDs including Fierce//Love and The Tongue is a Drum as a part of Daughters of Yam, a poetry and jazz performance duo. In June 2015 major premiered her poetry play Classic Black: Voices of 19th Century African Americans in San Francisco at the San Francisco International Arts Festival. devorah major performs her work nationally and internationally with and without musicians. She has been a participant in international poetry festivals in Italy, Belgium, Bosnia, Jamaica, and Venezuela, and performed her poetry in France, the Bahamas and Germany. She works as a part-time Senior Adjunct Professor in Critical Ethnic Studies and Writing and Literature at California College for the Arts. Visit devorah's website and follow her on Instagram and Twitter.
word time
how old is your language
he asks and pauses
for answers that will not
come to the tongue
my language of memories
is buried in bone marrow
spilling out in blood
rich with copper
salt and ancestor breath
my language of touch was
inherited from the first ones
who tasted green, swallowed night
and learned by stroke
and knead to know each other
my language of dance
choreographed on waves
and undulant meadow grasses
now rests in lamp lit shadows
and my language of speech
is words welded and wielded
round the globe
a language of jazz and goobers
okra and okay opening
the wow of africa
while hindi lies with norse
and latin is a bedfellow of german
a trade language english
smelted by a people committed
to war and domination
my language bends and recreates itself
claims a lineage measured
across light years of knowing
forgetting and learning once
again
Torch Literary Arts is a 501(c)3 nonprofit established to publish and promote creative writing by Black women. We publish contemporary writing by experienced and emerging writers alike. TORCH has featured work by Colleen J. McElroy, Tayari Jones, Sharon Bridgforth, Crystal Wilkinson, Patricia Smith, Natasha Trethewey, Elizabeth Alexander, and others. Programs include the Wildfire Reading Series, writing workshops, and retreats.