11 Short Poems That Will Speak to Your Soul

August 11, 2019

Sometimes, a few short words can change your life…

Nayyirah Waheed is an African-American poet who has published two books of incandescent poetry, entitled Salt and Nejma. She began writing at the age of eleven, after being given an assignment to write a poem for a community newspaper by her English teacher. Since then, she has touched many with her published work and also gained a loyal following on Instagram.

Poems come as they will. They come as they want, when I’m waking, eating, exercising, chatting with someone. Sometimes they come to me as a whole, sometimes a line. I think it’s one of the ways my soul communicates with me, I do my best to sit down and listen.

She breaks the rules of poetry, with her signature three-line poems and creative use of full stops. Nayyirah Waheed’s minimalistic poetry covers topics such as love, identity, race, and feminism; and she burns through our ideas around these things with stark clarity.

Here are 11 of her captivating poems that touched us deeply:

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