Destiné Price, 19

Destiné Price grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and has been passionate about writing poetry and short fiction her entire life. In 2016, she tied for first place in the Western Michigan University MLK Social Justice Poetry Bowl competition, and in 2017 was a featured poet for the Fire Historical and Cultural Arts Collaborative Open Mike. She currently studies anthropology and sociology with a minor in English at Kalamazoo College. She works with Read and Write Kalamazoo, coordinating volunteers.

For Price, writing is a platform to channel her innermost feelings and passions and release those into the community. As an African-American woman in America, she has dealt with anti-black racism all her life. She is deeply interested in how racism works as a social construct and how this system works to shape perspectives. Cultural competence and critical race theory are key in the cultivation of youth voices, she asserts, and is something not present enough in our educational systems.

I am Angry

by Destiné Price

I am angry
I AM
I am deprived
IAM
I am minuscule
I AM
I am limited
I AM
I am silenced
I am lonely
I am using my words slowly because sometimes my tongue is disabled by your system and you only
I am scared
1 AM nights conjure unforgettable scenes that permanently bind my arms as far away from my heart
I am
I am
I am
Angry
I am Black women
I am not light skin I am not fair skinned I am not mixed skin I am Black
I return to my reflection to remind me just of who
I AM
Triumphant woman
Carrying the weights of thoughts of families, friends, myself, my world
I Am heavy woman
I don’t have time for play dates or bedtime I have to return to my mission things but be done there is no time
I Am loud woman
I let my tongue slither and lick my teeth after every declaration and I am never finished talking
I am crazy woman
My personalities scream all at once so I LET THEM SCREAM
I am driven woman
My hands are glued to the wheel and I don’t recall a time they have reached down to shift gears but there have been crashes
I am intentional woman
Hold me to my word, I will
I will
I will
I WILL