A regional editor of Drumvoices Revue and a Cave Canem fellow, Williams’ performance abilities have been showcased on various projects, most recently on American Public Media’s Weekend America, and the Turner South Television commercial My South Speaks. Currently an assistant professor of English at Southwestern Illinois College, she received an MFA in creative writing from the University of Memphis. She is the daughter of East St. Louis Poet Laureate Eugene B. Redmond.

Treasure Williams is one of the most exciting emerging literary voices to date. Born in Meridian, MS, Treasure traveled the world as a Hip Hop artist signed to M. C. Hammer’s Bust It Records before attending Jackson State University and then The University of Memphis, where she received an MFA in Creative Writing. Treasure began writing seriously in the mid nineties while performing as an underground artist in Oakland California. She gained prominence in the Spoken Word scene, performing with other noted authors of color; among them Asha Bandele and Ras Baraka. Treasure has released two Hip Hop CDs—Drop the Axxe (Bust It Records, 1991) and Treasure (Airtight Productions, 1998). Her short stories have appeared in Obsidian and Drumvoices Revue. Her poetry has been featured in Drumvoices Revue, Obsidian III, Cave Canem: 2000 Anthology, Cave Canem: 2001 Anthology, and Bum Rush the Page.

omwumbiko

                By Treasure Williams

you threw a tantrum
before you were born.
i could tell
by the stubborn look
on your bloody grey face;
holding your breath, marching,
arms folded, toward death.
and then
you were a point on the map we wanted to get to.
and then
you were a thing trying to go back.
lynched
by your own umbilical cord.
until the doctor cut you
down,
and then they rubbed you
into existence—
a place you came to unwillingly;
crying because i
hugged you so tightly.

Note: omwumbiko is an igbo word that means “death, i implore you.”