September 2026 Addendum
Poet Nayyirah Waheed is back on Instagram -- and She is rightfully, and again calling out poet Rupi Kaur for anti-Blackness and Black erasure, and of the appropriation/theft of Her foundational insta-poetic style and of the blueprint of Her self-published, groundbreaking, first book of poetry: "Salt"
[ The Lethal Salinity of The Truth ] 2017
Her words are not for me
not about me
Her words are not for me
not about me
Repeat
am i, allowed
To float Her words aloud
To sink them in my mind
To lap them from the page
i accidentally swallow,
then gulp Her Salt words/
like when the surf breaks
and surprises an exhilarated,
Great Lakes girl
with a mouthful of seawater
in her first swim in the Ocean
Her words were not meant for me
Her words were not meant for me
Repeat
but
they quenched,
and drowned me,
anyway.
