Can you go through the step-by-step process of writing this poem from the moment the idea was first conceived in your brain until final form? The poem ‘Terra Rocks’ had a lot of different names. Mother Rocks, Mother Terra, Mother Earth, to name a few. I wrote it because I was frustrated by everything going on – protests, partisan fights, white supremacy, COVID19, etc. I wanted to get out and protest but I had to make the decision to stay in because of my health condition. This is what I was thinking about when I wrote the poem. June 2020, soon after the murder of George Floyd.
Where were you when you started to actually write the poem? And please describe the place in great detail. It was summer and I was in my home when I wrote the poem. I don’t remember the exact moment, but I can describe what was most likely going on when I wrote the poem. I was probably in my messy bedroom, on my king-sized bed alone, since my husband was trapped behind closed borders in Africa. CNN may have been watching me with the volume down. I know the news inspired the poem. Most likely the lights were off with the window shade up, so the summer sun could pour in and spark my creativity.
Were there any lines in any of your rough drafts of this poem that were not in the final version? And can you share them with us? I’m sure there are but I didn’t save them. I tend to just put all the thoughts down on paper, then go back and kneed poetic devices into the work like dough.
What do you want readers of this poem to take from this poem? I would like them to see that it was the whole planet in chaos at the time of this pandemic and that it effected women of color in a huge way because of race and healthcare disparities. Those racial healthcare disparities were revealed because of the pandemic. I literally felt like the pandemic itself had painted a target on my back, as an African American woman suffering with obesity and the many health problems that that condition can spawn. All of them make me high risk for hospitalization and death from Covid19. In that sense, this poem is historiographic because it paints a picture of one historic moment from a black woman’s perspective.
Click on the below link to read “ESSENCE Released ‘Impact COVID-19 On Black Women’ Study
https://www.essence.com/health-and-wellness/essence-covid-19-black-women-study/
BOTTOM: Maria’s parents.
Which part of the poem was the most emotional of you to write and why? Being that I am a ‘Movement daughter, ’ (or, a woman whose parents were Civil Rights Activists,) it was painful to make the logical decision to stay inside to protect my health. This is why the poem ends with the idea that my form of protest was to wear African cloth as a face mask. It was a moment in which I had to forgive myself. When the Civil Rights movement happened, my parents were teenagers. They were in the streets. But would they have done the same if they were in their 40s? Maybe not.
Has this poem been published? And if so where? Terra Rocks was first published in Cutthroat Journal of the Arts in the Summer of 2021.
Click on the link below to visit the website of Cutthroat Journal of the Arts
It is also in my forthcoming collection of poetry, Count Each Breath (by Wild Ink Publishing), which has many poems focused on the pandemic and the healthcare disparities faced by women of color.
Click on the below link to purchase COUNT EACH BREATH from Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Count-Each-Breath-Maria-James-Thiaw/dp/1958531030/ref=sr_1_1?crid=207DB6KI1VN&keywords=Count+Each+Breath&qid=1665879196&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIwLjAwIiwicXNhIjoiMC4wMCIsInFzcCI6IjAuMDAifQ%3D%3D&s=books&sprefix=count+each+breath%2Cstripbooks%2C104&sr=1-1
Click on the below link to visit Wild Ink Publishing and read about Maria James-Thiaw
Click on the below link to visit Maria James-Thiaw’s Faebook Page.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100049045943444
Most of the BACKSTORY OF THE POEM links can be found at the very end of the below feature:
http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2021/02/will-justice-drakes-intercession-is-251.html