Safiya Henderson-Holmes was an American poet born in 1950 in the Bronx, New York. She received a B.A. from NYU and an MFA from City College of New York. Her poetry focused on giving voice to marginalized groups and explored themes of labeling, stereotyping, and the failure to live up to unreasonable standards. She died of cancer in 2001.

1. Safiya Henderson-Holmes

2. Background
• Born 1950, in Bronx, NY
• B.A. Degree NYU, MFA Degree City College NY
• Involved in Poets & Writers, MADRE, National
Council of American-Soviet Friendship.
• Died (of cancer) in 2001.

3. Work
• Daily Bread (1994)
• Madness and a Bit of Hope (1990)
• Racing and E(racing) Language (2001) – Editor
Work “focuses on the marginalized, giving voice
to those who are silenced by their status
occupying society’s fringe, such as children in
dysfunctional families, rape victims, and
immigrant women” (Mitchell)

4. “Failure of an Invention”
• Conversation with “america.”
• Approaches “america” as a construct that has failed to
live up to its promised goals.
• Explores themes of labeling, stereotyping, and
attempts/desire to live up to unreasonable/exceptional
standards (and how these attempts fail).
• Visceral imagery of sickness/Cancer, wounds, pain.

5. Works Cited/Consulted
• Henderson-Holmes, Safiya. “Failure of an
Invention.” Unsettling America. Maria
Mazziotti Gillan and Jennifer Gillan. New York:
Penguin Books. 1994. 60. Print
• Mitchell, Shamika Ann. Encyclopedia of
African American Women Writers. Ed. Yolanda
Williams Page. Westport, CT:
Greenwood, 2007. 266-67.