Abstract
Valerie Mason-John's poetry collection, I Am Still Your Negro, blends spoken word and hashtags with villanelles, sonnets, and haiku to traverse the African Diaspora experience through place, time, and circumstance. Blak Inglis street vernacular, the cadence of enslaved people in the Americas, patois and creole join the enduring spirit voice of Yaata, Supreme Being of the Kona people, to reveal narratives of liberation, entrapment, sexual assault, eating disorders, and rave culture. An emotive critique of colonization's bitter legacy, this collection will draw audiences of the spoken word genre and poetry readers who wish to broaden their knowledge about contemporary social justice issues.