Biography

- Latorial Faison
- Virginia, United States
- Latorial Faison was born & raised in Courtland, VA. She’s authored & edited 14 books. Her titles include Mother to Son, Love Poems, 28 Days of Poetry Celebrating Black History, Volumes 1-3, 100 Poems You Can Write, Secrets of My Soul, Immaculate Perceptions, Kendall's Golf Lesson & two junior writing anthologies. Faison attended UVA & completed graduate studies at VA TECH; she's a doctoral candidate at Virginia State University. Her writing has been selected for publication in Artemis Journal, PENUMBRA, HaikUniverse, Virginia's Best Emerging Poets, RHINO, Typishly Literary Magazine, Southern Poetry Anthology IX, Prairie Schooner, About Place Journal, Crab Orchard Review, Mandala Journal, Southern Women's Review, Deep South Magazine, The Chattahoochee Review, Obsidian, Chickenbones, Typehouse & elsewhere. A 2019 Furious Flower Poetry Center fellow, Faison is a recipient of the Tom Howard Poetry Prize. Her writing has been published alongside Iyanla Vanzant, Danny Glover & Dr. Cornel West in the NAACP Image Award winning book Keeping the Faith. She teaches at Virginia State University. Her official website: www.latorialfaison.com.

Friday, April 22, 2016
For All Your Blues
-for Prince-
You have gone, vocally reached
Past it, songs of seduction
Yonder in the night. The light,
It has come & granted you
Royalty for all your blues.
Robed in rhythmical genius,
You gave new life & you breathed
New life. While we marvel at
The gift, there in the distance
You stand strikingly strumming,
Singing like angels, preaching
like Rock & Roll's Paul. We grieve
The day you flew away, a
Dove whistling battle cries.
Copyrighted April 22, 2016 by Latorial D. Faison
www.latorialfaison.com
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Dearly Beloved
Dearly Beloved
While more than men's dreams die,
Too many new coffins float
Through ancient river beds
Collecting broken vows
That be our salvation.
They have taken our lord.
We have lost our lady.
While more than men's dreams die,
Too many new coffins float
Through ancient river beds
Collecting broken vows
That be our salvation.
Saturday, November 15, 2014
Unpacking It
by Latorial Faison
© 2014 Latorial D. W. Faison
www.latorialfaison.com
Moving in my forties
like having to extract
my own teeth with pliers
Look at all the boxes
staring up & down at
the me that used to be
young, strong, interested
How many states have I
loved & left wondering
what beautiful ugly
packing & dragging these
memories through thin air
those people I love/hate
No one to call on but
our last names & blood ties
& nineteen years that passed
without unpacking it
this box of wedding gifts
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
History Woman
It was a dying womb
where you came from dreaming
of life in Norfolk & new shoes
where you came from dreaming
of life in Norfolk & new shoes
a place to call your own, a clean room
Orphaned, you were grateful
for this little life of yours & mine
that God cared enough to make room
in a house without a welcome mat
in a house without a welcome mat
where you were too black & too big
for the opportunities of white folks
But you could cook & clean em'
you could love a white child to death
nurse a malnourished black one to good health
with your poor, dark, giftedness
You knew it all 'bout tobacco leaves, "solja" beans,
cotton fields & seasonin' greens.
cotton fields & seasonin' greens.
when you fried your fish & baked
your famous cobbler dish, it was genius
how you always made sugar from shit.
Saturday, June 14, 2014
A Good Father is Never Dead
A good father is never dead,
gone with yesterday, forgotten,
erased from mind & memory.
He lives on. He lives long, present
& alive in words that survive,
wisdom that has made time stand still.
He reaches from glory with strong
hands lifting up toward sky through
whatever chaos comes bearing
witness, whatever confusion
compiled, whatever confessions
come to light each pathway gone dim.
Copyrighted June 14, 2014 Latorial D. W. Faison
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
I'm Just Looking for a Good Poem
I'm just looking for a good poem
something to get me through more than just the night
something to have, to hold, till death do us part
I'm looking for the right poem
a poem that works, gives more than it takes
a poem that cooks and cherishes the love it makes
I'm looking for a poem with good sense
a poem that looks good, feels good, is good to me, is good for me
a poem that's mine
a poem populating space with all the right words
a poem that speaks, makes powerful statements
one that stands up and stands out
I'm just looking for a good poem
a poem that makes minds read it and think
about poems that are not poems
about poems that long to be
words that do and don't come together
for the sanctity, for the ebb and flow
for a good poem, I'm just looking
Saturday, September 28, 2013
Daddy's English
A man of few words
famous for calling women
their husbands' names or nicknames
Mrs. Cat or Mrs. Charlie
He'd call you a cracker jack
if you couldn’t be still
a shot for trying to be somebody you were not
a pistol if he thought you were mean as shit
He might even call you Tharl, Jespa, or Ettie
a girl-child if you were a boy
primping in a mirror too long
Copyrighted Feb. 2014 Latorial Faison
Sunday, March 31, 2013
The Resurrection
Close your eyes, come go with me
To a remarkable place, Mount Calvary
Feel the hatred that was displayed
In a world that by His hand was made
Envision them mocking our Lord
As “King of the Jews” with a crown of thorns
The Son of God hanging way up high
On a rugged cross beneath the sky
See the blood come streaming down
Feel His pain, hear the sounds
The Christ’s last words upon the cross
They live forever to save the lost
Through the passion of that final hour
He took the blame that was really ours
Now stand we here, at the foot of the Cross
Where the Savior paid the absolute cost
Right then and there, our Lamb, the Christ
Was accepted by God as the ultimate sacrifice
The true Messiah who had walked this earth
He put on humanity through a Virgin birth
There on Calvary, the hour had come
He said “It is finished” so it was done
Redeeming us, He paid our debt
Now at the right hand of God our Redeemer sits
He rose three days later, to the surprise of man
Got up from the grave with all power in His hand
Power over Heaven, power over earth
That same power that ordained His birth.
It was there, at Calvary, where a Son was crucified
Who so loved the world that for it He died
In Him is life, the truth, and the way
Though He died, He lives this Resurrection Day
Copyrighted April 2006 Latorial D. Faison | www.latorialfaison.com
Monday, December 31, 2012
Don't Waste this Time
by Latorial Faison
Don’t waste this time
Making a New Year’s resolution
Or debating God’s creation
Versus Darwin’s evolution
Don’t waste this time
Observing thy neighbor
Or coveting blessings
And the fruits of their labor
Don’t waste this time
Concealing infamy or shame
Or fixating on circumstances
From whence you came
Don’t waste this time
Enabling negative seasons
Or giving permanence to gloom
In search of profound reasons
Don’t waste this time
Deferring dreams and goals
Or neglecting faith in promises
Of what the future holds
Don’t waste this time
Denying wisdom and truth
Or chasing all the joys
Accomplished during youth
Don’t waste this time
Resurrecting issues now dead
Or awaiting those words
Left unwritten and unsaid
Don’t waste this time
Contemplating love
Or debating revelations
And the hate thereof
Copyrighted © January 1, 2013
Latorial D. Faison
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