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By Nikki Grimes

I am a door of metaphor
waiting to be opened.
You’ll find no lock, no key.
All are free to enter, at will.
Simply step over the threshold.
Remember to dress for travel, though.
Visitors have been known
to get carried away.


Illustration of a Black youth in a green t-shirt walking with an orange book in her hands. The background is black with flowers on the forefront.
Illustration by Shadra Strickland

Source: Poetry (February 2021)

  • Arts & Sciences

Poet Bio

Nikki Grimes
Nikki was born in Harlem in 1950. At the age of 13, she gave her first poetry reading, at the Countee Cullen Library, a block away from where she was born. She has won numerous awards, including the 2003 Coretta Scott King Award, given each year by the American Library Association to an African-American author and illustrator “for outstanding inspirational and educational contributions.” In 2006, she won the National Council of Teachers of English Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children.   See More By This Poet

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