Darnell Carson
Darnell Carson ‘21 writes poetry about his identity as a Black queer person, as well as poems about his family and spirituality. To him, these topics help him make sense of himself.
“Just being a black person truly has, I think, shaped my writing the strongest,” Carson said. “I think growing up as a low income person definitely shaped my perception of the world and how I approach poetry.”
In ninth grade, Carson began writing seriously, and wrote poems centering topics like mental health and bullying. Since then, Carson believes he has improved the most at tightening the images he uses in his poetry to communicate his emotions.
“I think when I started out I would kind of pick just anything, not really concerned with how the image is described, but more so I was just trying to tell a narrative,” Carson said. “But now I think a lot more about how images play with the grounding of the poem. So I've gotten a lot better at … letting the images speak for themselves.”
Wanting to share his work with others, Carson also started posting his poetry on his personal Instagram account, called deesoulpoetry. According to Carson, one of his main motivations for his promotion online is getting people to notice his work as a professional writer. On his website, deesoulpoetry.com, Carson gives people a more holistic view of his work and identity as an artist. An aspect of his identity and poetry is his nickname “Deesoul,” which he got when he was younger.
“One day, my father, he just said ‘Deesoul!’” Carson said. “I just started laughing. And he just kept calling me that, and it kind of just stuck. So now I claim it as my poetry name. So, when I submit a lot of stuff it says Darnell ‘Deesoul’ Carson, or when I perform somewhere I introduce myself as Deesoul and in most spaces I introduce myself as Deesoul now, because it's a name I've started to identify with.”
Over the summer, Carson wrote and published a chapbook, “Running From Streetlights.” Carson’s poems focused on what it meant to him to be a Black queer male in America “while everything around us is going crazy.” The title of the chapbook reflects Carson’s focus on how Blackness operates in the presence of constant dangers.
“In Black culture, there's this saying, ‘Be inside before the street lights come on,’ and that's because the streetlights serve as a symbol of danger that lurks in darkness,” Carson said. “So what does it mean for us to always be running from danger and living despite of it?”
While the poems were heavier in the chapbook, Carson highlights his experience writing a piece entitled “I dream of a darker planet,” describing a world in which Black people are safe.
“[In the chapbook, it comes] after a poem by Danez Smith, [who's] is a favorite poet of mine — they're absolutely wonderful,” Carson said. “Absolutely favorite poet of mine, they have a poem called ‘dear white america,’ which really struck a chord with a lot of people, including me, and this poem was written in response to it, and I really enjoyed writing that one.”
“Just being a black person truly has, I think, shaped my writing the strongest,” Carson said. “I think growing up as a low income person definitely shaped my perception of the world and how I approach poetry.”
In ninth grade, Carson began writing seriously, and wrote poems centering topics like mental health and bullying. Since then, Carson believes he has improved the most at tightening the images he uses in his poetry to communicate his emotions.
“I think when I started out I would kind of pick just anything, not really concerned with how the image is described, but more so I was just trying to tell a narrative,” Carson said. “But now I think a lot more about how images play with the grounding of the poem. So I've gotten a lot better at … letting the images speak for themselves.”
Wanting to share his work with others, Carson also started posting his poetry on his personal Instagram account, called deesoulpoetry. According to Carson, one of his main motivations for his promotion online is getting people to notice his work as a professional writer. On his website, deesoulpoetry.com, Carson gives people a more holistic view of his work and identity as an artist. An aspect of his identity and poetry is his nickname “Deesoul,” which he got when he was younger.
“One day, my father, he just said ‘Deesoul!’” Carson said. “I just started laughing. And he just kept calling me that, and it kind of just stuck. So now I claim it as my poetry name. So, when I submit a lot of stuff it says Darnell ‘Deesoul’ Carson, or when I perform somewhere I introduce myself as Deesoul and in most spaces I introduce myself as Deesoul now, because it's a name I've started to identify with.”
Over the summer, Carson wrote and published a chapbook, “Running From Streetlights.” Carson’s poems focused on what it meant to him to be a Black queer male in America “while everything around us is going crazy.” The title of the chapbook reflects Carson’s focus on how Blackness operates in the presence of constant dangers.
“In Black culture, there's this saying, ‘Be inside before the street lights come on,’ and that's because the streetlights serve as a symbol of danger that lurks in darkness,” Carson said. “So what does it mean for us to always be running from danger and living despite of it?”
While the poems were heavier in the chapbook, Carson highlights his experience writing a piece entitled “I dream of a darker planet,” describing a world in which Black people are safe.
“[In the chapbook, it comes] after a poem by Danez Smith, [who's] is a favorite poet of mine — they're absolutely wonderful,” Carson said. “Absolutely favorite poet of mine, they have a poem called ‘dear white america,’ which really struck a chord with a lot of people, including me, and this poem was written in response to it, and I really enjoyed writing that one.”
Listen
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to Carson’s poem, “I dream of a darker planet,” from his chapbook “Running From Streetlights”:
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I dream of a darker planet.
DeeSoul After Danez Smith The summer is a whole year long, a festival of cookouts and family reunions and chasing down ice cream trucks, running back to momma with all her change. We will see smoke and not think of our destruction, just our fathers on their favorite grills, making sure a few of the links are just a little burnt for Uncle Keith and Cousin Teresa. You know how they like it done. The Wobble, or the Cupid Shuffle, or any of the other billion line dances we’ve memorized like a spiritual will come on, and we will grumble and force our friends to join us. It is always golden hour; we have always looked this good. A baby will be crying, as babies do, and all the mothers and aunties will say, Girl, let that baby cry, it don’t bother us none, and it doesn’t. Aunt Mary made that lemon pound cake we’ve been craving all year, and now my soul is rested. I think this is how rapture tastes. We reach for Black folks and find them waiting, not some trailing shadow of their absence. We have always been safe here. Every precinct that once was is now a community garden. We have never needed policing. Momma tells me she has given every mother permission to snatch me up if I act a fool. Imagine being loved so much. We look up at the sky and say What a beautiful day it is to be alive, and we mean it. |