Poems from PollyNation: A Seminary of Self

Sherese Francis (2019)

This selection of poems and poetic visual art is from my unpublished manuscript, PollyNation: A Seminary of Self. The manuscript is an exploration of my identity as an American-born black person of Afro-Caribbean heritage through language and mythology.

Language is an important tool in not only the formation of the understanding of ourselves and identities, but also the shaping of our cultures and societies. I believe examining the words and language systems we use everyday is a step towards us reimagining the world we live in and enacting true justice. Coming from a Caribbean background, creole languages (kweyol, patois, etc.) often were not seen as legitimate or "standard" languages in contrast to European languages, like English, French, and Spanish. Creole languages have a mix of influences from European languages, African languages and Indigenous American languages, and are an expression of the collision of cultures that happened during the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade. These languages' manifestations matter just as much as my own black body matters because they refuse the erasure of the history that reveals how I and others in my race and culture ended up here and creatively survived through oppression. It is not enough that my body matters, but my own cultural/social genius and philosophies of life and language, too. Thus, celebrating my culture's languages and histories, which is marginalized in relation to European and American history and culture, also is part of that social justice movement of my life mattering.