Valerie A. Smith, Back to Alabama, Sundress '24

From the Underground Railroad to Queen & Slim, Black stories have always been about escape, survival, and the pursuit of freedom, even when the road is uncertain. 🚗💨

Drop a ✊🏾 if you’re still walking in the legacy of those who ran before us.
#BlackHistory #QueenAndSlim #OurStoriesMatter

Last weekend, I had the honor of sitting in conversation at the Southern Studies Conference at Auburn University at Montgomery, and what a gift it was.

Because Black. Because She. Because We. ✊🏾
Black history isn’t just the past, it’s the present, the fight, the resilience, and the win. Because she black, because she hoop, because she dunk, because she tatted up. 🏀✍🏾
Because she locked up, because she free.

#BlackHistoryInMotion #Brittneygriner

This Saturday!!
I'm honored to share space and words at this Black History Month Open Mic Night.
Grateful for community, poetry, and the stories that carry us.
Come listen. Come feel. Come remember.
February 21 | Acworth, GA

🖤 "We count you in the number…" 🖤
Black men move through life carrying legacy, expectation, and the weight of survival—but the cards are always stacked. Some are taken by fame. Some by violence. Some by injustice.
Jimi. Michael. Prince. Kobe.
Trayvon. Ahmaud. George.

We pray. We fight.

To the ones who held it down, held us up, and kept their joy rooted in resistance
This one’s for you. 💐

In the spirit of "Black Woman" by Georgia Douglas Johnson, we honor the strength wrapped in softness, the sacrifice laced in silence, and the beauty born through struggle.

Honored to share space and words at this Black History Month Open Mic Night.
Grateful for community, poetry, and the stories that carry us.
Come listen. Come feel. Come remember.

February 21 | Acworth, GA

That's high praise 💛

One day, I will return.
Because there’s a pull in me I can’t explain without my voice catching.
A longing that feels older than my name.

As African Americans, many of us carry a phantom desire—to go back.
Back to Mississippi.
Back to Alabama.
Back to Africa.

It’s not nostalgia.
It’s memory.

One day, I will return.
Because there’s a pull in me I can’t explain without my voice catching.
A longing that feels older than my name.

As African Americans, many of us carry a phantom desire—to go back.
Back to Mississippi.
Back to Alabama.
Back to Africa.

It’s not nostalgia.
It’s memory.

“You say I’m your favorite place to visit, and I laugh,
because I’m in your feet, standing on my shoulders.”

This poem lives in the tension between beauty and history.
Between tourism and truth.
A city speaking for itself.

#Poetry #PersonaPoem #Charleston #BlackWriters #WordsThatCarryHistory

Sophisticated white dress sings the blues.
Brown skin remembers.
Feet lift the floor into testimony.

This is Black joy in motion—
muscle, memory, sweat, and sway.
If you feel it, you know.
If you don’t… you ain’t grown enough to get in.

🖤🎷

#ValerieThePoet #ErnieBarnes #TheSugarShack #BlackArt

For Cyber Monday, I’m keeping it sweet and intentional. When you buy one copy of Back to Alabama, I’m gifting you another for free. My way of saying thank you for supporting my words and helping this story find new homes.

#cybermonday #backtoalabama #poetrylovers

For Cyber Monday, I’m keeping it sweet and intentional. When you buy one copy of Back to Alabama, I’m gifting you another for free. My way of saying thank you for supporting my words and helping this story find new homes.

#cybermonday #backtoalabama #poetrylovers

For Small Business Saturday, when you buy one copy of Back to Alabama, I’m giving you a second one free. Your support helps these stories live.
Cashapp kv25549 Venmo vsmith_25549

#smallbusinesssatruday #sbs #backtoalabama #poetrylovers

For Today only, This is my Black Friday special: Buy one, get one FREE. Plus a postcard and an exclusive debut recording from My new poetry collection. A perfect gift for poetry lovers.

For just $20

Cashapp kv25549
Venmo vsmith_25549

#blackfriday #blackfridaypoetry #backtoalabama #poetrylovers

Happy Saturday! Check out my new poem With Mom. Thrilled to be published in Hamilton Stone Review.

Reading with Birmingham Poetry Review Tuesday November 4th
uab.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Looking forward! I will be reading Back to Alabama for Birmingham Poetry Review's Zoom Reading Series. Tues Nov 4th.
7pm CST
uab.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Because Black. Because She. Because We. ✊🏾
Black history isn’t just the past—it’s the present, the fight, the resilience, and the win. Because she black, because she hoop, because she dunk, because she tatted up. 🏀✍🏾
Because she locked up, because she free.
Because she paid, because she write.

Here's the video! Thanks for an Amazing reading with MonicaWeatherly @notebookscltv.bsky.social

For every woman who has been told to shrink, to be quiet, to make herself smaller than she is—this is for you. 💛

We have carried weightless burdens, sat with our knees pressed together, made room for others while feeling like we had none for ourselves. But listen, you are seen. You belong.

To the ones who held it down, held us up, and kept their joy rooted in resistance—
This one’s for you. 💐

In the spirit of "Black Woman" by Georgia Douglas Johnson, we honor the strength wrapped in softness, the sacrifice laced in silence, and the beauty born through struggle.

The mic is our altar. The pen, our prayer.
"Caseloads of young, the North Star foggy.
When I was a child someone hit me so hard I lost my sense of beauty.
I hear the ocean beating where the ice marches over the shore.
Freedom is the choice to cross a river—
tell a child another world exists."

As a poet, I often reflect on the writers who've shaped my journey—like Derrick O'Brown, who virtually visited our class before earning the Pulitzer, or Claudia Rankine, Gregory Pardlo, and even Robert Frost. While I can’t rank them, each has left a lasting impression on me.

@kevonstage.bsky.social I got your book! Hit me up for your signed copy of Back to Alabama! And one for Mrskevonstage too!

Teaching poetry is more than just analyzing words on a page—it's about exploring the world we live in. I’m considering not only the books we’ll read but also the deeper discussions we’ll have. This is a space to use poetry as a lens to examine the social issues of our time.

Yeah, everybody seems to know everybody. And it’s funny how imposter syndrome—oh, the stories all sound the same. But when you’re in it, whew, it hits different. I’m in these classes, fresh off my master’s, like 'I made it. I’m here!' But then that little voice creeps in, 'Am I supposed to be here?

Stepping into the spotlight feels a little surreal, but I’m deeply grateful for the love and support tonight. Poetry has always been about amplifying voices, and I’m honored to share my journey as both a poet and scholar.

✨ Black culture. Black love. Black life. Black poetry. ✨

Reading these poems was like discovering a reflection of my own voice—a legacy stretching back to the Harlem Renaissance, to the brilliance of Gwendolyn Brooks and beyond.