
Treasure Shields Redmond
WebsiteYears: 2000, 2001, and 2002
Biography
A Mississippi native, Treasure Shields Redmond is a St. Louis-based poet, performer and educator. She has published poetry in such notable anthologies as Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam, Breaking Ground: A Reader Celebrating Cane Canem’s First Decade and in journals that include Sou'wester and African American Review. She has received a fellowship to the Fine Arts Works Center, and her poem, "around the time of medgar" was nominated for a 2011 Pushcart Prize.
Treasure is a Cave Canem fellow and has received an MFA from the University of Memphis. Presently, she divides her time between being an assistant professor of English at Southwestern Illinois College and doctoral studies at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
Poem
for my daughter
i must apologize beforehand:
settle yourself with the fact
you will never really know me
women have some beast of ourselves
that is permanently captive
our rage is sent away
like a door to door salesman
or transferred
like a subscription
we push it down for our daughters’ sakes
but they just find it when we die
right now
you lick your whole hand
you rip off your diaper
and bring it to your nose
sweet oatmeal,
applesauce, raisins, milk
hot fried tomatoes
all taste better from the floor
you sample hugging your brother
then you slap him
both make you laugh
i tell myself these things will
not be taken from you