By Sym Posey | The Birmingham Times
The State of Alabama and the City of Birmingham both have poet laureates in Ashley Jones and Salaam Green, respectively. Meet Karima Moor, Birmingham’s first Youth Poet Fellow, who considers herself just an ordinary young adult with a passion to create and deep love for writing.
The 21-year-old Birmingham native delivered one of her poems Unity, during Mayor Randall Woodfin’s second inauguration in 2021 and released her first book in August title Married2theMission: HerArchy: GOD. GIRLS. AND The American Church.
“It was a collaboration with women all over the U.S. to discuss girls, God, and the American church,” she said. “I was honored to be apart and encourage women and men to walk in purpose and understand they are chosen by God.”
In July, Green nominated two women to serve as the community’s poet fellows: Moor as the inaugural Youth Poet Fellow and Maati Sanovia as the Adult Poet Fellow. “I’m very appreciative for the opportunity,” Moor said of the designation.
She’s also pleased to be named a poet laureate at the same time as Jones and Green.
“I think Black women being the peak, being the head, being what you see when you see poet laureate, whether that’s for the state of Alabama or the city of Birmingham, having Black women holding that title is what the people need to see, because not only do we have Black representation, but we have Black women representation…,” said Moor. “I think it’s beautiful and I feel amazing about it. I feel honored to be under those two women and to have them help me grow.”
“Make It Art”
Over the summer, Moor along with Sanovia worked with two Birmingham Public Library branches to facilitate poetry programming to support literacy and summer reading initiatives.
“I was able to go into the summer camp for third through fifth graders and talk to them about poetry, how to create poems, and how there’s so many different ways to rhyme and write. You don’t have to rhyme, but whatever you’re doing to express yourself, you can make it art. You can make it poetry,” Moor said.
“I like pouring into young people because I want to expose them to more openness of the arts. A lot of time is spent putting down [the arts] and there is a lot of talk about how it doesn’t make you money and all those negative things. I feel like it’s my job to put a positive spin on it.”
She’s always loved words and loved expressing through words, Moor said. “I have always had a natural gift for stringing words together, but it grew in the eighth grade when I had to write a short story for English,” she said. “I remember we all had to present it and when I finished reading mine and I looked up and I was right across from my teacher. Everyone’s faces were in awe and my teacher’s jaw was dropped. That opened my eyes to the trueness and the weight of my gift. I really feel like it’s a natural born gift. I can’t give anybody credit but the Lord.”
As for her inspirations in poetry, Moor said, “I love Poets in Autumn [the nation’s largest spoken word poetry event for young professionals]. I love greats like [poet and Civil Rights Activist] Maya Angelou. I love [rapper, singer, songwriter] Lauryn Hill. She is able to piece things together and have so much imagery. You would think that she is talking about men when she’s actually talking about God. There are multiple ways to look at her work. It’s nothing short of amazing.”
Big Decisions
Moor grew up in and around the city and attended Rudd Middle School and Pinson Valley High School where she graduated in 2018. After high school, she wasn’t sure what path she wanted to take.
“I really didn’t know what I wanted to do, but there was the pressure of ‘what are you going to do? Where are you going to go?’ All these big decisions that needed to be made. That’s all people wanted to talk about, what was going to happen after high school?”
One week before school started in that fall of 2018, Moor received a call from Jefferson State Community College. “The choir director called me and told me he had a scholarship, which was a full ride … For two years I majored in theater because I like to act, and it was really all I could put my finger on at the moment. And then the pandemic, I was like, you know ‘I’m just playing and wasting people’s time.’ I wanted to take that time during quarantine to figure out what I wanted to do seriously.”
Moor said she’s been singing all her life. “I was in the choir at Johnson Elementary. I was in the choir at Pinson Valley. I am in the choir at church,” said Moor, who is a member Faith Chapel in Birmingham, Alabama. “I don’t recognize myself as a singer, but I do have a voice.”
“Wise Counsel”
Since taking a break from college, Moor said, she’s able to pour back into her city “and help middle scholars and high schoolers get to the next phase of life. “
Moor, who loves movies and music — “it’s so hard to pick a favorite anything with substance I’m a sucker for — also has her hands in several outreach programs that include College Prep U, a program dedicated to helping high school students figure out their next phase in life, and Breakthrough Birmingham, a program that helps middle and high school students start thinking and beginning the next process for life after graduating high school.
She provides advice based on her own experiences. “I personally don’t think that it is fair that they have to make one of the biggest decisions of their life at 17 or 18,” she said. “It’s a choice that will impact the rest of their life, however that is what the reality is so for me it’s about helping them to understand that you have to make your decisions with wise counsel.
“Do what you feel your purpose is. Do what you love. Do what brings you joy and not do something based on money or what people tell you what you need to do. If you are going to be doing something for the rest of your life, do something that brings you [joy] … Think about the things that if you didn’t get paid for at all, what could you do for the rest of your life.”
