Author Tania Russell's poems in 'be gentle with Black girls' explore the erosion of childhood and offer a reminder to readers.
So in my own words, the book really is a mirror for certain sections of our culture that say Black women are sufficient by the time other people identify them as women, not by the time they identifyas women.
And this is definitely a Southern-influenced book. Not all Black people live in the urban South. Some of us live in the deep South. So I really wanted to reflect that in terms of how we see God and how we see love for ourselves. I wanted to ask the question, “How do we mistreat our bodies and say we love God in the South?”
So, talk about Ms. Mae. Was she somebody from your childhood, or is she the embodiment of older women who are constantly advising young girls? For example, a lot of us can name an older lady who is very judgmental and likes to give unsolicited advice, a lot of which tends to be out of touch.I think it’s definitely a piecing together of different women that I know. It’s really an archetype. I hate to create an archetype, but I kind of did it because I felt like it would be effective.
And my grandma was just like, “Something is wrong with her! Something is wrong with her! She’s wearing heels to school every day!” And I think, honestly, something did not compute to her that it was awards season and I was just dressing up. And the heels weren’t even stilettos. They were, like, my mom’s winter heeled boots or something like that.
And it makes no sense to anyone else, but us. My guess is that maybe it comes from a place of protection. Maybe they wanna protect us by making those comments, but it doesn’t protect us at all. I love to look in the mirror and say affirmations and that’s a different way to use a mirror. I wrote “how to heal a black body” because one of my great grandfathers was an herbalist. Those traditions didn’t really get passed down. But in my fantasy world, I wonder what would happen if I were a healer. What would I have to offer? So, in the poem, I go through all of our different ways of medicating that I know of. Like, ginger ale.
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