Healing traditions in Black women's writing: Resources for poetry therapy

Abstract

“Healing Traditions” identifies 54 Black women writers whose memoirs, poetry, and song lyrics provide resources for mental health practice in general and bibliotherapy in particular. Evans locates issues relevant to Black women’s perspectives, highlights themes found in leading artists’ work, and offers an in-depth poetry curriculum for creative approaches to empowerment. In this article, readers find three extensive lists of culturally relevant resources and learn keywords in memoirs, poems, and songs. Writers presented—named “Revolutionary Petunias” after Alice Walker’s poem—are a diverse group, including Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (President of Liberia), Jan Willis (Buddhist religion professor), Stacy Ann Chin (Chinese-Jamaican poet), Nina Simone (legendary songstress), and Mary J. Blige (songwriter of complex emotion). After an overview of resources, Evans then provides case studies of five Southern Black women poets and recommends 25 poems that address “hurt, healing, and hope.” She suggests how close readings of work by five poets (Margaret Walker, Maya Angelou, Sonia Sanchez, Nikki Giovanni, and Alice Walker) can help mentors and practitioners identify restorative themes during individual and group writing sessions. Evans defines balance as a “harmony between forces” and identifies equilibrium as a cornerstone issue in Black women’s lives. In sum, Evans reflects on her personal journey as a survivor of sexual violence and how a decade of teaching race and gender culminated in development of a curriculum of creative nonfiction for healing through poetry.

Keywords:

• African-American women
• bibliotherapy
• cultural identity
• poetry therapy
• social work