Hallowed Be Thy Hood

The WusGood poetry editing team is excited to present the work of poets that responded to our inaugural general call for poetry. Hallowed Be Thy Hood brings together poems that explore, excavate, demolish and rebuild the worlds we call home. These poets take us to  Baltimore and  Jacksonville, into the bright lights of the beauty salon and into  the “beasts” of Bed-Stuy. The line between inside and outside is blurred Black. In these worlds, weather is man-made and woman is God.

This issue’s featured poet is Safiya Washington. A writer and performer from Brooklyn living in Philadelphia, Safiya received her Bachelors in English Literature in 2016 and is currently an MFA candidate at Rutgers University. She is the 2011 winner of Brave New Voices and is recipient of a fellowship and residency from The Watering Hole.

The staff poet featured in this issue is Noura Jaber. Noura is a Black- and Arab- American queer woman. She is a poet who writes to survive. She is also a Pink Door 2016 fellow, a Watering Hole 2016 fellow, and all her friends’ gramma. Noura is the head of Spokes poetry collective at Bryn Mawr College, and her work appears or is forthcoming in The Black Napkin, Crab Fat Magazine, Yes, Poetry, and Maps for Teeth. She is junior poetry and essay editor, as well as co-editor of Visual Art at WusGood. 

In addition to our featured poets, we are proud to publish the powerful work of Geoff Anderson, Jamal Parker, Rajah Reid, and Mia White. We thank the poets for contributing to our platform, welcome them into our family and look forward to supporting their work in the future.

Dig in. The hood is waiting.

-WusGood Poetry Editors

Miriam Harris, Kisha Nicole Foster, Siaara Freeman, Justice Gaines, Noura Jaber, Jonathan Jacob Moore, Brittany Rogers, Justin Rogers, & Kirwyn Sutherland

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Safiya Washington | Hit ‘Em With The Left, Lessons from Lil Kim #1, Pineapples

Noura Jaber | A Warning, Tale of the Castrater

Jamal Parker | Reading, Jacksonville 

Rajah Reid | Brooklyn Mid-Fall

Brittany Spaulding | Scene Description, Home Sweet Hell, or It Goes Down in L-Town, Talkin About Chicago after Jayne Cortez

Mia White | Beauty Bucks’ Throne Room