Shrijana Tuladhar
Contributing Writer
stuladhar@murraystate.edu
A Murray State student saw the need for more black visibility in literature and took matters into her own hands.
Chelsea Carter, sophomore liberal arts major, self-published her poetry collection, “Blackkk Womanhood,” a year ago on March 9, 2019.
Her poetry collection talks about the disparities black women face, many of which are related to her own experiences. She said the poems are abstract pieces about different aspects of black people.
“There is one poem where I talked about the oceans and how there’s spirits of African slaves embedded in those oceans because people either died on those ships or jumped overboard,” Carter said. “I connected to the sharks that were swimming in the oceans and how they’re attracted to blood. You get the scent of all these slaves and how they’re all sinking to the bottom.”
Carter said that topic was very interesting to write about and turned out to be one of her favorite poems in the collection.
As the current vice president of the Black Student Council and a member of the Office of Multicultural Initiatives, Carter said the most important aspect of her project was to make people aware about the people of color in literature. She especially wanted to give them a voice and to feel the connection with people of different backgrounds and experiences through their work.
She wanted to publish her poetry collection because, as a person of color, she did not feel represented in the books she read.
“I take a lot of English classes and I just remember not feeling visible,” Carter said. “We study a lot of great poets like Walt Whitman, but there’s not a lot of black authors in the classes that I study.”
Carter said she wanted to give writing a chance.
“I just wanted to dip my foot in the water to see if I liked it and show that there’s another black author out there,” Carter said.
However, the process wasn’t easy. Carter said it took a year for her poetry collection to get published.
“The writing process was, like, maybe six months but the longest part was getting my copyright, which took three months,” Carter said. “Getting all the stuff together on Amazon took an additional three months.”
From writing to publishing the poetry, Carter completed every step on her own.
“I didn’t have access to anyone who would be willing to give me advice about getting things published [or] getting copyright for the book,” Carter said. “Everything was by myself.”
She said the most challenging part of getting the copyright was playing the waiting game because when a person applies, they do not know if they will get it.
Carter didn’t like going through the publication process by herself but found the good in it because she can use what she learned to make her next project better.
Carter’s advice for aspiring writers is to take the time to write for pleasure.
“Find time within the day or within the week, go to a place that’s quiet where you don’t get distracted, turn your phone off and just write until you don’t want to anymore,” Carter said. “That way you’re still practicing that skill, but you’re not deviating from your life just to write.”
Carter started writing poetry in middle school but fell in love with it during her sophomore year of high school when she took her first creative writing class. In this class, she explored different forms of writing.
Carter’s favorite poets are Langston Hughes, a poet and social activist for black rights, and Gwendolyn Brooks who was the first black person to win a Pulitzer Prize.
Carter’s poetry collection is currently sold on Amazon for $5.99. She is working on a sequel that will deal with similar topics. Carter hopes to have the sequel published in 2021.