Born in Trinidad
and raised in New York City since the age of 13, Cheryl Boyce Taylor has been
writing poetry since her son Malik was born. As a
young wife and mother, it was often difficult to discuss the hardships of
her new role as parent with her family. The world was in the throes of the
black power movement, the women’s movement, and the war in Vietnam. Such a
different world, from her carnival and coconut-water Trinidad. Even though
her son was an infant, she worried about the life he would have as a black
man in racially divided America. After hearing Nikki Giovanni read, Boyce
Taylor began writing poetry to make sense of her life, and this new world
she was attempting to shape for her young son. In “Poems of Glass and
Bone,” a poem dedicated to Audre Lorde, Cheryl Boyce Taylor asks, “who
is this girl writing notes to the hard earth?”
Cheryl Boyce Taylor’s
work has taken her around the world, to Europe,
Africa, and the Caribbean. She has performed at some of New York City’s
hottest venues, such as Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Joyce Theater, Aaron
Davis Hall, The Bowery Poetry Club, Lincoln Center, and this past summer she
opened at Celebrate Brooklyn in Prospect Park for Shadow, one of Trinidad’s
most talented Calypsonians. In 1994, Boyce Taylor was the first Caribbean
woman to present her work in Trinidadian dialect at the National Poetry Slam.
Along with her New York team, they won third place. She has toured the country
as a road poet with Lollapolooza, and recently performed for Mamapolooza in
New York City. Her works include two collections of poetry, Raw Air, and Night
When Moon Follows. When asked to name three things that best describe her
work, she smiles her little girl mischievous grin, and says “A Mack truck, a
kiss, and an open road
