She Smiled – Pure Becoming

From page to canvas—where poetry becomes image, and memory becomes movement.

There are moments when a poem refuses to stay on the page.

It asks for breath.
It asks for color.
It asks to become something you can stand in front of and feel looking back at you.

She Smiled is one of those moments.

Originally written in my book Pure, this poem has lived many lives in language—folded into readings, carried in silence, revisited through memory. But now, it is entering another form. Not as an illustration of the poem, but as its continuation.

A becoming.

From page to canvas

From poem to painting.
From Pure to Pure Becoming.

What Maria Tavarez is creating in her studio is not a translation—it is a conversation. Brushstroke answering line break. Color answering cadence. Texture answering emotion.

Watching the painting come alive feels like witnessing the poem remember itself in a different language.

There is something intimate about this stage—the in-between space where nothing is finished, but everything is already true.

Behind the scenes: the making of She Smiled

This is part of Pure Becoming: The Living Installation, where each poem from Pure is reimagined through visual art.

Behind the scenes, you’ll see the slow unfolding of this piece—Maria Tavarez in motion with paint, surface, and silence, translating feeling rather than form.

Paint layered like memory.
Gesture that pauses mid-thought.
Color arriving like breath after holding.

There is no rush here. Only attention. Only listening.

And somewhere inside all of it, She Smiled begins to take shape again—not as words on a page, but as presence on canvas.

She Smiled (from Pure)

The day seemed to
Begin with the stretching
Of arms that pulled at the sides
Of the ribcage the day was bright
The water glistened as if to have stars
In them, she saw her reflection
Tasting the salty waters
Cleansed her tongue
In likeness with her skin
She smiled
Feeling the beat of the sun
That lifted the golden tones
In the melanin that clothed her
She listened to the call of the
Spirit beyond the surface of
Anything tangible, the acute
Ear she had let her heart beam
As bright as the sun rays that
Touched down to highlight her footsteps
She smiled; taken into account the
Drops of tears that ran away
With the depth of the sea
There were no more sorrows here
Missing you tomorrows or beckoning the
Beg of a hug or hand to tug at the loss
That wounded the soul
She smiled; standing corrected
By the several detours that
Kept her bewildered about the man
Cries that seemed to fall on
Deaf ears to the rejection
Of anything that seemed
Down right human--she
Was leaving it buried
She smiled; no more waiting
For calls from imaginary
Friends, no more waiting
For soften-rough hands
No more doubting
Self loathing
And powder-like
Fears that just
Seemed to keep her dusted
No more drowning in the guilt
Of things not worth lingering
Holding on to a shadow
That had hopscotch in the background
She smiled
Unhinged
She smiled
Open
Loud
Laughter floating
In the air like the ringing
Of song
She smiled
So brightly, till her cheeks hurt
She kept the smile wide so her
Son could join in the joy she
Radiated like a bright queen
Which reflected in the sea that
She greeted
Her words were heard
Cleansed and preserved
As all feelings are worth acknowledging
But none of us should keep our souls in bondage
Exhale, release, smile
Just as she did.
Smile.

©All Rights Reserved. Naima Yetunde Hammonds. 2020

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Why this matters

This work is not about recreating what already exists.

It is about asking a deeper question:

What happens when poetry leaves the book and enters the room with us?

What changes when language becomes image, and image begins to speak back?

Pure Becoming is my answer to that question—not as conclusion, but as ongoing practice.

A living installation.
A shared breath between disciplines.
A reminder that art is never contained by its first form.

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Support the work

If this piece moved you, or if you believe in making space for poetry to live beyond the page, you can support this ongoing installation here:

☕ Buy Me a Coffee: Buy Me A Coffee

Your support helps continue the creation of Pure Becoming—the writing, the visual collaborations, and the documentation of this evolving body of work.

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Follow along as She Smiled continues its transformation from poem → painting → installation.

More pieces from Pure Becoming will be released as they unfold in real time.

From page to canvas.
From poem to painting.
From Pure to Pure Becoming.