This Little Light of Mine Speaks

Crystal Valentine

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About This Poem

“I draw inspiration from the life, legacy, and resilience of Tina Turner and her biopic ‘What’s Love Got to Do with It.’ Seeing her depicted from childhood to adulthood on screen provided me with a lexicon for the traumas committed against my community and by the hands of my community. I use this lexicon and my own admiration to personify the songs that have molded Turner’s (and my) life by transcribing my poems into sheet music. Additionally, I use this transcription to navigate the notions of violence, visibility, and space through the lens of Black girlhood. When words fail me, I turn to music symbols, or even white space to communicate context and subtext. Using a Simple 4/4 time signature, I can return to the sound, tempo, and weight of the past, and show the facts: who was and is allowed to occupy the most space, and at whose expense is this space—this visibility and humanity—stolen.”
—Crystal Valentine

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