“Professor Moon showed students what a poetry community was. In 14 weeks, she taught students to trust in their experience, push one another and be proud of who we were. When I first came to the Poetry Workshop, like many other students, I was anxious about my writing capabilities and sharing the most intimate aspects of myself. While we were nervous and even scared sometimes, the poetry community that Professor Moon fostered sustained us. When life was too noisy, she helped quiet it, or when we felt like no one was listening, she let us know that she was. She heard and pushed us to use our voices—to make people listen and to show them life. We will always be grateful for the community Professor Moon created and her challenges to us writers. This poem, ‘I hope you know,’ is an ode to Professor Moon, a thank you for all that she taught us.” —Natasha Griffin ’21
14
Her Legacy Shines On:
I hope you know
A Tribute to Kamilah Aisha Moon
I hope you know
On September 23, 2021, renowned poet and assistant professor of creative writing and English at Agnes Scott College, Kamilah Aisha Moon, passed away. She joined Agnes Scott in 2017, quickly becoming a beloved and familiar face in its community, and her loss is one that continues to be deeply felt. Moon was a graduate of Paine College, where she received a degree in English, and Sarah Lawrence College, where she earned an MFA. It was at Paine College that she first became familiar with Agnes Scott when she submitted a poem to the college’s 1997 Writer’s Festival and won first place. In a faculty profile for the college’s magazine, she said that she used the award money to travel to a major writer’s conference at New York University. She recalled that attending the conference “cemented my journey as a writer,” and said to herself, “This is what I’m supposed to be doing.” A distinguished writer, Moon was the author of “She Has a Name” and “Starshine & Clay,” the latter of which was named on NPR’s “All Things Considered” as one of three books that capture American life in poetry. She was featured in prominent publications, such as The New York Times, Harvard Review, American Poetry Review and more. She also received notable honors and recognitions, including a Pushcart Prize, the 2015 New American Poet award and fellowships to MacDowell, Vermont Studio Center and Hedgebrook. As a teacher, Moon shined in the classroom and enjoyed nurturing the next generation of creative writers, and it is through her students that the light of her legacy will continue to shine on. To honor Moon, Natasha Griffin ’21 shares special words on behalf of the students and an original poem that she penned in tribute of her.
you taught us that when we hear the rhythm of life we will tether our experience fasten it around our fingertips and run you’d say there are thousands of poems about life & the emotions it drags with it but there are none yet about us and what we’ve witnessed we will remember Buttrick 215 where you showed us to unshackle from expectation unearth ourselves from doubt and fall into what we know what we will learn and what we will become to show up for ourselves so when the uncertainty tries to swallow us we will stand face life and write
