Jennifer Price is a Chicago born African American mother, poet, visual artist, and librarian rooted in Macon, Georgia. Jennifer has the honor of being a member of Obsidian Literature & Arts’ inaugural O|Sessions Black Listening cohort, and she is a Teaching Artist in training through the NYC Community-Word Project. Her writing is published in the up//root collective, and publication of her collage artwork is forthcoming from the Kolaj Institute. As a creative, Jennifer leans into themes of motherhood, loss, and place and their bearing on the contingencies held within the Black woman’s identity. Follow her online on Instagram and Twitter.
That’s Not Poison Ivy
It’s Virginia creeper, you tell the neighbor woman.
Now, go! Go forth in freedom—I have liberated you
from a lifetime of believing Black folks
can’t identify plants! you want to bellow
to her back when her daughter’s Yorkie
has yanked her paces away from your yard work.
Your boy is up on the front porch chalking the cement floor,
the white flies have wafted away—they are ruining
someone else’s gardenia leaves with their dark paste.
When you come in for water, he doesn’t see
you watch him through the tall window. He’s aiming
the nozzle of the insect repellent at his own face,
accidentally. You don’t rush out to stop him.
The sun is high and drying the grass clippings
according to your plan. You and the boy
are together, everything is perfect.
###
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 Toi Derricotte, Tayari Jones, Sharon Bridgforth, Crystal Wilkinson, Patricia Smith, Natasha Trethewey, Elizabeth Alexander, and others. Programs include the Wildfire Reading Series, writing workshops, and retreats.