Aya Collective Publishing

Meet Camella Ward, a new writer and contributor to Aya Collective Publishing’s Rise & Write. As a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania native, Camella’s career background includes mental health counseling and teaching. Other career experiences include being a sole proprietor and a community outreach developer focused on self-development for marginalized citizens, women, and youth.

Past recognitions have included the designation of Poet Laureate Award of Merit, given by Iliad Press in 1990. Writing as a youth has been a passion. She has been published in anthologies and literary magazines, and has collaborated on student performances and student literary publications.

As a spoken word artist, Camella has participated in open mics locally, and the Community College of Baltimore County Station filmed a cable television presentation of poetry productions in Baltimore, MD (CCBC-TV) annually in the early 1990s.

Camella is currently working to publish a manuscript of poetry titled Metamorphosis.

Those Paper bag Curls 
(I am poem)

I am naturally curly
Kinks combed through,
The style stays tight
With those paper bag curls,
I am beautiful.

I am sometimes slicked down
Smooth, scarfed overnight,
Ready to meet the day,
Pinned back with tendrils,
I am camera posed.

I am sure since my mom
Taught me nifty, thrifty
Old time, paper bag curls,
They kept coif in modesty,
I am smart, keen with style.

I am proud of mother wit
The ways of Afro-Indigenous grooming.
Today recalled in tough times looming.
Keeping tradition, this sane vanity saves.
I am valiant through it all.