“After an Election” by Tiffany Austin

 

A tribute to the work of feminist poet-critic Tiffany Austin (1975-2018), whose unbridled spirit lives on.


photo of woman“I’m tired. We’re still afraid of the dark continents. Women. Africa. I admit I don’t have hope or I have hope in the names of my students who talk about not being a woman, being a gachapon, never about race, and a professor asking them to write about a lovesome thing. My sister is named Toni and she has three sons. The last email I sent her said, ‘You know Zora was controversial. Her life—she cut and was cut.’ ‘And, Nina, that freedom costs.’ They stop my heart, these students, again, before me. I have hope—in names like Jarrod, Ide, and Tisunne.”

“After an Election” by Tiffany Austin (1975-2018)