Hello readers! My name is Nia Doyley. I am glad to introduce myself as a new intern here at The Art of Everyone. I’m a poet, a “hippie” and consequently, a dreamer. I am an English Major and a Spanish Minor at the University of Kentucky. I love literature and language of all kinds, hence my major.

I prefer reading historical fiction and poetry. My favorite book is Of One Blood by Pauline Hopkins. I am currently reading The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates and A Cruelty Special To Our Species by Emily Jugmin Yoon. I have an affinity for all things ethereal and mystical. My favorite show is Dickinson, a show about Emily Dickinson’s life.

I am on break from in-person school, because obscurely enough, I love online school and I retained more information during it. I’m working with publishing on my in-person break because as a prospective writer, I noticed the lack of diversity in the publishing world. As a black woman, and being the optimist I am, I thought, “Why don’t I get into publishing?” So with this thought, I decided to propel myself into the publishing world. Eventually,  I would like to help other POC writers get published by others that look like them. 

Here are two of my many poems:

Contemporary Black Girl

We are the liquid cement
filling in the potholes on the streets, 
for the sake of everyone’s tires.

We are the piece of tape
on a cracked glass
we call America.

We are the makeup piled on
that does not match the color
of your skin.
It only covers up the pimples and the scars.

We are sunglasses 
over a black eye 
everyone is hiding.

We are curtains that go
over every window
when people do not
want to see what is going on outside.

We make our colonies like the ants,
working tirelessly to build our hills, 
while people step on us
with their leather loafers and snakeskin heels,
and expect us not to bite back.

This next one I just wrote today while in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It has yet to undergo any type of editing, but I hope it’ll help you understand the focus of my writing. 

existence in America

1. who can withstand boiling temperatures.
2. who can endure hellish, infernal pressure.
3. who can make art of it.
4. who can numb the pain enough to forget they are standing in a burning house.
5. who can preach pretentiously to those who end up scarred or bruised.
6. who can laugh hard enough that they can feel the sensation in their cheeks more than their lungs collapsing.
7. who can say that’s just how the world works and get on with it.
8. who can acquire fame so that flashes of paparazzi cameras blinds them to the flame.
9. who can be distracted enough by watching those who have made it out in admiration.
10. who can scorn those who remember they are burning.
11. who can blindfold themselves.
12. who can escape into fantasy worlds through mere imagination.
13. who can lie first and say they are fireproof.
14. who can crochet intricate quilts that have the power to extinguish.
15. whose twisted kink is it to enjoy being scorched.
16. who taught them it was enjoyable in this place.
17. who can make sense of the world in which we live?
18. who can make sense of it all? 

Alright, you will be hearing more from me later on. Speak to you soon reader!