What is power? And how can we move towards feeling empowered? — specifically in terms of Black identity. How can the notion of power feed into and manifest into our daily lives?

As part of the University’s celebration of Black History Month, Rachel produced a series of brand-new poems and we are delighted to highlight the fourth in her series in response to the theme of #BlackIsPower entitled Sunflowers.

Here, poet Rachel Long, explores the notion of power in its smaller, more intimate iterations. Listen to the full poem below.

Rachel Long is a poet and the founder of Octavia, a poetry collective for womxn of colour. Rachel's poetry and prose have been published widely, most recently in Granta, The Poetry Review, and The White Review. She is a poetry fellow of University of Hertfordshire. Her Forward Prize-nominated debut collection, My Darling from the Lions, is out now from Picador.

www.octaviapoetrycollective.com