Root Work Journal - Summoning Flight - Volume 2, Issue 1
A Reason (After Julian Randall’s ‘Icarus’)
Shirmina Geneva
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.47106/12578578
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My mother taught me how to fly before she got her wings. Black women know the sun too well.
Shirmina Smith is a published writer, host, child educator, spoken word poet and teaching artist from southwest Philadelphia. She started doing slam poetry 8 years ago and since then has used her art to address the constructs and issues around Black womanhood, mental illness and the trauma aligned with combating systemic and economic oppression. Outside of slam, she’s performed and taught at numerous locations across the states including War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco, CA, Busboys and Poets in Washington D.C., and The 2018 National Women’s Conference in West Conshohocken. Shirmina also serves as co-founder and member of Your Favorite Jawns, an artist collective geared towards using poetry and community outreach to create
dialogue around womanhood, blackness, (youth) mental health and sexuality. Shirmina currently attends Birth Arts International Certification Program to be a certified birth and postpartum doula.
Citation: Geneva, S. (2022). A Reason (After Julian Randall’s ‘Icarus’). Root Work Journal, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.47106/12578578