Nursery Rhymes in Black: Poems

by Latorial Faison

Nursery Rhymes in Black is a poetic recollection of race, roots, culture, and identity. Paying homage to the memory and work of elders and ancestors, Latorial Faison remembers her own matriarch, mother, grandmother—the rich memories of having grown up in rural, historic Southampton County, Virginia. These poignant poems mark significant moments and tell the lives of the people along the author’s journey through the post-segregation Jim Crow South. The collection highlights family, overcoming adversity, and endurance from the Black female perspective and celebrates the individuals and experiences that shape life and have catapulted the author into a unique existence. Narrative poems give voice to the Black Southern girlhood experience of being saved, nurtured, inspired, and even challenged by plight and circumstance. Strengthened by her experiences, Faison provides power, courage, and wisdom that resonate deeply. These poems walk in naked truth on a lyrical, musical tightrope as each brings wisdom and honesty in the intimacy of arranged words. Faison takes readers along the development of her own identity, considering stories of unsung heroes, the hands that feed us, the ancestors and traditions that form us, and the challenging ways that race, history, education, and culture intersect. With this spiritually moving collection, Faison joins all poets and writers who have come to prolifically amplify Black voices, to tell Black stories, to continue the Black literary tradition we have been gifted. In these poems, Faison calls readers into poetic fellowship with the memories, the legacies, the truths of Black women in the South. There is reverence, history, and glory on these pages celebrating the hands, hearts, work, trouble, and ways of Black women and all the ways they teach, become, fascinate, struggle, survive, and exist in the world. Nursery Rhymes in Black lulls us—but not to sleep—rather, to wake up, to speak out, to take a stand, to advocate as we pause to remember, understand, and celebrate.

Genres: Poetry

86 pages, Paperback

Published July 15, 2025

About the author

Latorial Faison is no ordinary woman. She has walked many miles in the shoes of a military spouse, mother, poet, author and educator. However, through writing, Faison has become an activist poetically speaking to the issues of our times. A native of Courtland, VA, Faison studied English and Religious Studies at the University of Virginia and VA TECH. Faison has been writing poetry since adolescence, but in March 2000 she walked onto the literary scene as the founding editor of Poetically Speaking, a globally read online poetry magazine. In 2001 Faison's first book collection of poems, Secrets of My Soul, was published. This collection set the stage for what would follow in later publications such as Immaculate Perceptions in 2003, and two collections, 28 Days of Poetry Celebrating Black History I and II (2006, 2008). Faison has been published in various literary journals, magazines, anthologies, and online publications. She has been published in the US and abroad in the following: Anointed Magazine, Whispers of Inspiration, The Digital Drum sponsored by BET, Chicken Bones: A Literary Journal, Facets Literary Magazine, RiverSedge, The Nubian Chronicles, Seeker Magazine, Timbooktu, The Big Lick Literary Review, Skyline Magazine, Awareness Magazine, NubianPoets.com, The Poet'sPorch, Poetry Corner, The Taj Mahal Review, The Underground Poets Society, A Commonwealth of Words, Nubian Minds, Poetry, Art & Word, Literate Nubian, The San Gabriel Valley Poetry Quarterly, Voices, Magnet & Steel, Jasper Sufficient Publications, The Poet's Cut, The D.O.E.Network, Dakota House Journal, Reflections, Free Verse, Black News, Headlight Journal, Poems for Nubian Women, Poetically Speaking, Locust Magazine, L'Attitude, To Earth From Venus, Red River Review, Poetry Repair Shop, Carnelian, Women and Sport, The Poets Porch, The Poetry Society of VA's 80th Anniversary Anthology, Voices in Wartime, BlackMedina.net, PoetsAgainsttheWar.org, and the University of Toledo's Poems for Peace project.

Latorial's story "On Good Ground" is featured in the 2003 NAACP winner, Keeping the Faith, a collection of nonfiction essays on love, courage, healing and hope from Black America edited by Tavis Smiley. Her work has also received notice on radio shows like The Tom Joyner Morning Show and PowerTalkFM.com. Forthcoming publications include books of poetry, and various poems and contributing selections in other publications. Faison is also planning to publish children's books. She has taught for various colleges and universities in the U.S. Currently, Faison is an Online Instructor for DeVry University.
nbsp;

Latorial Faison is currently accepting speaking engagements as well as opportunities to appear and read poetry. For information on upcoming events, visit the EVENTS page of this site. Invite Latorial Faison, Poet & Author, to your next community, church, school, college, or university event.

Reviews

[Raymond · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very powerful collection of poems. It has been described in the foreword by Ariana Benson as a "Black lyrical hymnal", and it is a Black lyrical hymnal to Black womenhood and Black Southern living.

Favorite poems:
-Mama Was a Negro Spiritual (I personally think that the title of the collection should have been this poem's title)
-Mama Sangs the Blues
-Important Papers
-Girl, 1983
-When a Monarch Dies
-Heaven
-How to Bury Your Mother
-Prepping
-Heroes
-These Feet

[joel Austine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nursery Rhymes in Black is not just a poetry collection it is an invocation, a lineage, a testimony. Latorial Faison writes with a power that feels ancestral, as though every poem is carried on the voices of the women who raised her, the women who built her, and the women who endured so she could speak.
Her reflections on rural Southampton County are vivid enough to touch: the red dirt roads, the hands of her mother and grandmother guiding her, the echoes of the Jim Crow South still vibrating in memory. This book captures the Black Southern girlhood experience with truth so naked and tender that it pierces.
What moved me most was how Faison balances reverence and resilience. She honors elders, acknowledges wounds, embraces history, and still lifts her voice toward hope. Every poem is a reminder of the strength, grace, and unstoppable brilliance of Black women. A stunning, unforgettable work.

[Lauren Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nursery Rhymes in Black reads like both a memoir and a hymn. Every poem feels carefully crafted, filled with reverence for the author’s upbringing and the powerful women who shaped her.
Faison masterfully explores the intersections of culture, race, history, education, and identity, all while grounding her voice in the sights, sounds, and emotions of the post-segregation South. Her storytelling is compassionate and fierce, historical and deeply spiritual.
What I admire most is the book’s call to awaken—to remember, to speak out, and to stand tall in the truth of where we come from. This collection is not just poetry; it is preservation, celebration, and affirmation.
A gorgeous, moving tribute to Black womanhood and the communities that raise us.

[Hannah James · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the first poem to the last, this book feels like stepping into a memory quilt sewn from truth, tenderness, and legacy. Faison writes about matriarchs, girlhood, education, racism, culture, and identity with a clarity that feels both deeply personal and historically important.
These poems honor the unsung those who cooked, cleaned, fought, prayed, taught, sacrificed, and survived without applause. Faison writes them into the center of the narrative where they have always belonged.
I was moved by her courage in confronting illusions, hardships, and difficult truths, but even more by how she finds beauty in the cracks. This is a celebration of Black women in all their complexity, resilience, ache, and brilliance. A necessary and powerful contribution to Black literary tradition.

[Lauren James · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most powerful poetry collections I have ever read. Nursery Rhymes in Black honors generations of Black women their labor, their love, their struggles, and their triumphs. Faison writes with the wisdom of someone who has listened deeply and lived fully.
The poems are vibrant with a sense of place: the land, the history, the people who carved out survival in a world not built to love them. Her voice is compassionate, unflinching, and beautifully crafted.
What makes this book extraordinary is its emotional honesty. Faison does not shy away from pain, but she also refuses to let pain be the whole story. Instead, she uplifts endurance, faith, mother-love, and the profound power of Black women to shape the world.
A luminous, soul-awakening read.

[Laura Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Faison’s writing is musical soft in some places, sharp in others, always intentional. Nursery Rhymes in Black feels like sitting on a Southern porch listening to stories passed down from women who survived everything. It is a book that breathes.
She interweaves race, culture, and identity in a way that feels deeply intimate yet universally resonant. Her reflections on the post-segregation South are offered with clarity and courage, creating an emotional landscape that honors both hardship and triumph.
What struck me most is the sense of fellowship she creates. These poems don’t just tell her story they invite you into it. They make you remember your own roots, your own elders, your own beginnings. This collection is a gift, a hymn, a journey into the marrow of what shapes us.

[Daniella liam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nursery Rhymes in Black is the kind of collection that doesn’t just tell a story it preserves a legacy. Faison writes with an intimacy that feels like she’s sitting across from you, sharing the stories her elders whispered into her childhood.
Her imagery is rich and sensory, bringing back the smell of Southern kitchens, the sounds of small-town roads, and the emotional weight of growing up during a time still bruised by segregation.
The poems celebrate survival, womanhood, and the power of ancestral memory. They remind us how much strength it takes not only to endure but to rise. This book is a profound and necessary contribution to Black literature.

[Elizabeth Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Latorial Faison has crafted a collection that feels like history wrapped in heartbeat. Nursery Rhymes in Black brings to life the textures of the post-segregation South its wounds, its wisdom, its quiet corners of tenderness and grit.
Her poems honor the elders whose sacrifices shaped her path, giving voice to mothers, grandmothers, and ancestors who carried entire worlds on their shoulders. The way she writes about identity is breathtaking gentle yet powerful, raw yet graceful.
This book is a reminder of how memory forms us, how the past breathes inside the present, and how the voices of Black women continue to anchor our culture. A masterpiece of reflection and reverence.

[Daniel Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading Nursery Rhymes in Black felt like walking through a sacred archive of stories that have long gone unspoken. Faison’s poems carry the weight of history, yet they glow with the light of resilience.
Her reflections on the women who raised her women who loved, labored, and led in ways the world rarely acknowledged moved me deeply.
What makes this collection unforgettable is its honesty. Faison does not shy away from hardship, but she does not let sorrow be the final word either. The poems rise, uplift, and remind us of the unshakeable spirit of Black women across generations. A powerful literary achievement.

[Marian Henry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Latorial Faison’s writing is nothing short of exquisite. Her poems trace the threads of race, history, and culture in a way that feels organic and deeply rooted. There is a rhythm to this collection, a heartbeat that pulses with the voices of those who came before.
She captures the complexity of Black girlhood—its joys, its pains, its early awakenings—and connects them to a larger story of generational perseverance.
This collection isn't simply poetry; it is the living memory of a people, a portrait of Black womanhood painted through truth, vulnerability, and unwavering strength. Absolutely stunning.

[Rose Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection enveloped me from the very first poem. Faison has a gift for weaving personal memory with communal history, transforming individual experience into universal truth.
Nursery Rhymes in Black is filled with reverence—not the passive kind, but an active, breathing reverence that honors every ancestor who shaped her. The poems are intimate yet expansive, grounded yet soaring.
Her writing calls readers into awareness, into gratitude, into a fuller understanding of how identity is shaped by history, culture, education, and survival.
This is poetry that awakens, comforts, challenges, and heals. A profound and deeply human work.

[Alexa Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection touched me in a way I didn’t expect. Every poem felt like stepping into someone’s memories raw, unfiltered, and beautifully preserved. Latorial Faison has a way of writing that makes even the smallest detail feel significant. I found myself thinking about the women who shaped my world, the sacrifices they made, and the stories they never told aloud. This book reminded me that poetry can be both a mirror and a doorway. I’ll be returning to these pages again.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

What moved me most about this book is how it blends personal story with collective history so gracefully. Faison writes about endurance, pain, and pride with such clarity that it made me linger on certain lines. I could almost hear the echoes of church songs, feel the heat of summers in the South, and see the faces of the elders she writes about. These poems feel lived-in and honest. This is one of the most meaningful poetry collections I’ve read in years.

[Kelly Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m not usually someone who reads poetry, but this book changed something in me. The emotion is so real and grounded that it doesn’t feel like reading poems it feels like listening to someone speak truth. Faison captures the soul of Black girlhood and Southern heritage with so much love that I found myself nodding along, even at experiences I haven’t lived. That’s the power of great writing: it bridges gaps and opens hearts. Simply beautiful.

[Catherine Vickson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved how this collection invites readers not just to witness but to feel. These poems breathe they sing, they ache, they celebrate. Faison takes the experience of growing up in the post Jim Crow South and turns it into a tapestry of stories that feel universal in their longing and resilience. I finished the book with a sense of pride and reverence, as if I’d just walked through the memories of many generations. It’s powerful, healing work.

[Lil Mhikel · Rating 5 out of 5]

There’s something incredibly grounding about this book. Every poem feels intentional, like it was written with both past and future in mind. I admired the way Faison weaves the voices of ancestors into her own story, creating a feeling of spiritual connection that runs through the entire collection. This book reminded me that heritage isn’t just something you inherit it’s something you carry, nurture, and honor. A stunning, soulful read.

[Leo Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the kind of book that makes you slow down and breathe with the words. The honesty is refreshing and the imagery is so vivid that I often felt like I was standing right beside her in her childhood world. Faison’s respect for Black women and Southern roots shines brightly in every poem. It’s rare to read something that feels both deeply personal and widely relevant at the same time. I’m grateful I found this collection.

[Friedrich claus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book was like unlocking memories I didn’t know I still carried. Even though I didn’t grow up in the South, the emotions felt familiar. The poems about grandmothers especially pulled at me there’s love, strength, and unspoken pain all wrapped into her words. Faison writes with such grace and honesty that it’s impossible not to connect with her journey. A powerful tribute to the voices of Black women.

[Miley Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nursery Rhymes in Black is a beautifully crafted journey through memory, identity, and Black Southern womanhood. Faison’s poems feel intimate yet universal, honoring the ancestors who shaped her. The blend of history, culture, and raw emotion makes this collection unforgettable. A powerful tribute to the resilience and brilliance of Black women.

[Elijah william · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection felt like sitting on a porch listening to stories passed down through generations. There is something sacred about how Latorial Faison writes she doesn’t just tell you what happened, she lets you feel it in your bones. The poems about family, memory, and womanhood had me pausing just to absorb the weight of them. It’s a book that stays with you long after you close it.

[George · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book felt like stepping into a living archive of Black Southern heritage. Faison’s storytelling is rich, emotional, and deeply spiritual. She captures the struggles and triumphs of girlhood, family, and identity with stunning clarity. A heartfelt homage to those who came before.

[Elizabeth Boquet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful collection

[Books Amongst Friends · Rating 5 out of 5]

Library book/Collection Overall: 5/5