Charleen McClure

poetry

Charleen McClure, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, was born in London and raised in the suburbs of Atlanta. She earned her B.A. from Agnes Scott College, her M.A. in TESOL from Hunter College, and her M.F.A. in poetry from New York University. A Fulbright scholar, she has received fellowships from The Conversation Literary Arts Festival, Cave Canem, Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop, and VONA. Her work has been published in The Offing, Poetry Project, Mosaic, Muzzle, and elsewhere.

Charleen made her acting debut in All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (distributed by A24 Films), one of the most recognized feature films of the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Her debut collection of poetry, d-sorientation, was published by BOA Editions Ltd. in fall 2024.

Excerpt from "Age," The Offing, May 1, 2019.

Here                        he
                             calling me

                    ill                                                              with
I don't mean to be   old, but I                           know
                             for you and I can't

                                                     numb

his
                                                   number
                                                         ing

his eve hang

                                                           it
Let me              ou t

           tonight

"This poem is an erasure of "Age Ain't Nothin' But A Number," written by a grown R. Kelly for a young Aaliyah to sing." - Charleen McClure

FULL TEXT

Also by Charleen McClure:

“Caretaker.” Originally published in Poem-a-Day on September 1, 2020 by the Academy of American Poets.