POETRY . SOULFUL AFFIRMATIONS . PHOTO JOURNAL . PURCHASE NOW
Dear Soul,
My heart and Black skin have some things to tell you. Placing emotions between browns and midnight blues between incorrect grammar and bold thoughts I want you to know wrongs will be right. We do not bloom from poplar trees. We are strength. We are resilience. We are hope. The rebellion inside of us birthed the revolution that is us a long time ago.
Love,
Monique Lorden
1985PoET
The Poet x The Poem
POET
New Orleans born and raised, Monique Lorden understands the power of poetry x storytelling. She weaves ancestral rhetoric, proclamations of freedom, and revolution into rhyme, verse, and runs. Monique is the author of the liberating interactive journal, A Wish for Freedom, 2020 and her debut collection of poetry, Ramble Young Girl Ramble, coming soon. Mother of two and stranger to none, Monique’s poetry feels like kinship. It is a gentle reminder from a family friend that we have overcame and we shall overcome.
POEM
A Wish For Freedom is an interactive photo journal full of poetry and soulful affirmations. This photo journal is an intimate reminder that there is always inner work to do, beautiful Black people form smiles on familiar faces, and words are powerful.
“My mother created photo albums and journaled between our family pictures. Growing up, I enjoyed recollecting her memories. Through neatly sewn upholstered albums, I realized my mother is a gatekeeper of truth. She has the ability to create eternal out of temporary. We all do. In each photo, she captured feeling. In each journal entry she affirmed freedom.
We all can.
Perhaps we create photo albums and write our legacies for the same reasons our elders covered their couches in plastic. We desire to preserve what was never meant to last. Perhaps there is magic in that.” -ML
BOOKS X POEMS 