Radicle Book One: Reprieve A Workbook for Bronx Beauty Volume 2

RADICLE book one

Karla Robinson

Poetry and Design: Karla Robinson 2024 Document. Dream. Disrupt. Boutique Press

For Mommy & Daddy

Irene Rebecca & Chester Wadsworth & love so strong, seeds stay sprouting

Who or what do you hope to honor with your participation today?

Today I want to honor _____ for

radicle, noun Botany: the first organ to appear when a seed germinates.

It grows downward into the soil, anchoring the seedling.

Anatomy: A rootlike subdivision of a nerve or vein.

Often mistaken, & in this realm, poetically interchangeable for its homophone

radical, adjective Relating to or affecting the fundamental nature of something far-reaching or thorough, favoring extreme changes in existing views, habits, conditions, or institutions.

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What views, habits, conditions, and institutions affect our lives and communities?

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Some version of the power and privilege wheel?

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Reprieve: A Testimony

For the young womxyn

in the state-issued orange sweats who gave me serious side-eye 90 minutes at a time every Monday and Wednesday for 3 months before asking "Why you always call us Beautiful?

Beautiful?""

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To whom I replied"Because I think you’re beautiful.

I think all children are beautiful."

Who looked me up down then up again & replied in a less than complimentary tone "Yeah- you seem real genuine about that shit."

I write this poem for you.

I call you beautiful not because of the way you look, but the way you look at me as I flip through my folders to find your writing.

Lips apart, hands on hips, shoulders near your ears.

Part excitement, part terror, part cocky.

I call you beautiful not because of what your body can do, has done, will do for others.

But for what your body can do for yourself.

The way your breath transforms space.

You decide if it’s a sanctuary or Satan’s lair.

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I call you beautiful not because of your fresh flat iron, but because of the risk you take to put pen to paper.

Etch ink into wood.

You choose to use your time inside wisely.

Spiral inward to lose yourself for a moment.

Reclaim a space designed for your demise.

I call you beautiful because you are.

Full of beauty, and light, and choice in this dark, dank place.

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Who or what could you write a poem about?

Who or what is beautiful to you?

I call you beautiful because...

Document.

Dream.

Disrupt.

Bronx, NY