Bitches Brew

Bitches Brew is a collection of poems that explore coming of age, intimacy, self-love, and the existence that is Black girlhood/womanhood all through the lens of an Ifa practitioner that has learned to call both Philly and Brooklyn home. This book touches on the intergenerational lessons, the lessons we tell our sisters and best friends and the things we see that we don't think will latch onto who we become. “I can feel the lineage of Brooks and Shange in the wrought lyricism of Safiya Washington’s debut collection, Bitches Brew. I love how these poems bloom through their sharp-yet-tender imagery as the reader is guided through the desires, dangers, and deliverances of Black girlhood. I was moved by the percussive explorations of intimacy, self-love, and Blackexistence. It stands as its own soundtrack; a beautiful tribute to an indefatigable and divine life.”- Shakeema Smalls “Reading ...Brew was like holding up a mirror in poetry form. Safiya’s truth is such a reflection of my own, I felt not only seen but also cared for as I turned each page. Her writing is as tender as it is brave, balancing blunt transparency and intentional privacy. Prepare to have your own magic awakened as you partake in the Brew.” - Ashlee Haze “From the moment Bitches Brew opens its mouth to speak, we are spun into a capsuled experience of bladed heartscapes, sung by the shared lung of a multitude. Safiya Washington’s masterful lyricism crafts a vessel of itself, as the poems unravel along their diasporic montage and a playlist of erasure spills us into the language of emotional trap doors. Ending in a net of familiar hands, this debut is both grimoire for 00’s black daughterhood and altar for love’s lineage. All due praise to the delegated voice of one of this generation’s most significant griots.” - Kush Thompson