For Us Who Write
We write for many people and in many ways.
We write for our employers
We write for our ourselves
We write for our family
We write to memories
connecting our past and speaking futures into existence through pen
prophesying versions of ourselves to build
a stronger, wiser, fuller
healed
you. me. us.
We write with accents.
thick and strong and rich
carrying the histories, stories, pain and faith of our families.
We write for parents with broken english and
grammatically imperfect speech
(knowing there is nothing broken about them)
for the white voice we assumed to ease tension
not our own to manage.
We write to guide.
ripples in our wake
we trace a path of liberation for those yet to come, and
a lighthouse for those who came before us.
As if to shout from the shore
HERE HERE! WE HAVE MADE IT!
Come join us, we are waiting for you!
We are holding space for you!
We write to survive.
We write to breathe.
Leaving our words as bread crumbs
a trail to our existence.
A landmark to spirit
where we stand
both sentry and servant
to ancestors past
present
and ourselves.
I wrote this poem in response to several conversations with peers and mentees agonizing over our identities as writers. This is a problem in academia as a whole but especially in science, engineering or other related fields. My writing has been constricted, devalued and at times altered all together, serving to invalidate the way I talk story. As a scientist drawn to prose and alliteration, it can be difficult to reconcile the many ways I have to write and for whom. I am not alone in this struggle. Tressie McMillan Cottom captures this feeling perfectly when she writes in her collection of essays Thick, “I had wanted to create something meaningful that sounded not only like me, but like all of me”. This was in response to an editor who told her she’s too “readable to be academic” and ”too deep to be popular”. Reading her words felt like stepping out into the sun and being flooded by its warmth. This poem is my attempt to offer that same warmth to all of you.