Demetrice Anntía Worley
WebsiteYears: 2004, 2005, 2006
Biography
Demetrice Anntía Worley, an Illinois native, received a D.A. in English, Composition Theory and Pedagogy, with a concentration in creative writing, Illinois State University; a M.A. in English, University of Illinois, Urbana; and a B.A., cum laude, in English from Bradley University.
Her poetry honors include 2009 Split This Rock Poety Contest, Third Place Winner; Allied Arts Center Midwestern Voices Artist Residency/Fellowship, Finalist (2007); Crab Orchard Press First Book Contest, Semi-finalist (2006); and Spoon River Poetry Review, 2002 Editor’s Prize Finalist.
Worley's poetry has appeared literary journals such as Reverie, Spoon River Poetry Review, Permafrost, and Clackamas Literary Review.
Currently, she is an associate professor at Bradley University where she teaches creative writing, African American literature, and general education writing courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Poem
A Woman's Offering
This January evening, Cairo is outside
my taxi window: stalled traffic.
people walking. Shop windows illuminate
women's long sreses, men's shoes,
a 12-year-old girl licking
the taxi's windshield.
This January evening in Cairo
a girl's pink tonge slowly slides,
leaving wet arcs on dust glass.
The three men in the taxi, an Egyptian,
an Iraqi, and an american, ignore the girl,
drone on about the war. In the noisy street,
the girl's almond eyes ask questions american
dollars and Egyptian pounds cannot answer.
This January evening in Cairo
my brown eyes, surrounded by hijab,
never leave the firl's face. I offer folded hands
in prayer, Enshallah. She nods, presses
her small lips against my backseat window;
seals our silent transaction with a kiss.
~ in Reverie Vol. 3 (Spring/Summer 2009)