nacre
(you might have to google it)
nacre
the irritant
enters
the oyster
defends herself
she doesn’t go down
without a fight
the luster forms
layer by layer
finally a pearl
beyond price *
Okay, fine, I’ll tell you what nacre means. It’s the inner iridescent (sparkly rainbow-y) layer of mollusk shells. It’s the stuff pearls are made of.
I learned about this from Imani Perry’s South to America (I looooove Imani Perry and I’m working on reading every book she’s ever written).
And I can’t stop thinking about it. What kind of thoughts does it stir up in you?
*
This week is my ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY ON SUBSTACK. Whaaaaaaat? A huge thank you to everyone who has been here since the beginning or has joined me at any point along the way.
I’m so grateful for you.
*
Last thing. I’d love to invite you to a writing workshop on Saturday that my friend Cara Meredith and I are co-hosting. It’s called Upcycling Words that No Longer Fit, and we’ll be creating some healing poetry from old words we wrote (or that were written to us). JOIN US??
That we are made beautiful by irritation & annoyance. For Black women, our Beauty has been made in our survival of toxic, misogynistic, ⚪️supremist, colonized environments. Environments, where like the Pearl that develops inside the oyster, we were brought into that environment & then had to figure out how to survive & persevere inspite of the irritation & annoyance[which translates to torture, death & any number of malicious acts perpetrated on Black folks in general/Black women specifically]
We just watched a video about nacre in 5th grade science! It's by TED ED (How pearls are made). Well done and interesting. Something beautiful from a form of self-defense.