![]() ![]() “When you’re a Black, femme-presenting person in modern society, you get told you can’t be a lot of things: You can’t be emotional. You are more treasured than the greenest emerald. Your tears are the water that fills the rivers of the earthĭo not listen when they tell you not to speakĭo not listen when they attempt to strip away your protection “Second of all, her writing was just exquisite and her commitment level was really mature for a ninth grader.”ĭo not listen when they tell you not to cry “First of all, I can never forget her name,” said Mayson, who is on the Free Library of Philadelphia’s poet laureate selection committee. As a freshman, she took a class with the city’s former poet laureate, Trapeta Mayson, who teaches a poetry workshop at Cristo Rey as an artist in residence.Įven though the class was three years ago and held virtually due to the pandemic, Oyeniyi stood out to Mayson. I want us to be more in tune with our communities and not be so quick to judge.”īorn in New York of Liberian and Nigerian descent, Oyeniyi grew up in Philadelphia where she is now a senior at Cristo Rey High School in North Philadelphia. We’re gonna help each other get out of it. ![]() This homelessness epidemic does not define us. “Every time I walk outside or go on the news it’s, like, gun violence, and there’s homeless people all over who are not given common dignity,” said Oyeniyi, 17, who lives in the Lawncrest neighborhood. Oyewumi Oyeniyi is Philadelphia’s new Youth Poet Laureate. WHYY thanks our sponsors - become a WHYY sponsor ![]()
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