Phoebe Eligon-Jones, known to the Cardozo community as Ms. EJ, has published her first book titled Call Her Woman and Bend the Knee: A Heroic Crown of Sonnets. Writing under the pen name Blupoetres, Ms. EJ describes the book as a heartfelt tribute to Black women throughout the ages. It tells the story of Black women from biblical times to the present — highlighting their struggles, triumphs, joys, and achievements.
As both a mother and educator, Ms. EJ shared that her primary goal is to illuminate the extraordinary contributions and enduring strength of Black women. She wanted to portray the community in a new light, speaking honestly about the challenges and the victories that define their experience.
The inspiration for the book arose from observing the negativity often associated with Black women in today’s world. She felt inspired to counter that narrative and help young girls recognize how special and essential they are to the fabric of history.
Publishing the book was a long, three-year journey — one Ms. EJ described as “a labor of love.” Interestingly, she originally disliked sonnets, but her perspective changed during her MFA program at Hofstra University. With the kind encouragement of a professor, she enrolled in a sonnet class and began to appreciate the form.
She explained that she wrote the final poem in the series first and then worked backward — an approach typical of a heroic crown of sonnets. In this structure, the last line of each poem becomes the first line of the next, ending in a final, unifying sonnet. Her book contains 15 interconnected sonnets, all written in the Spenserian form.
The writing process presented numerous challenges. Ms. EJ had to rewrite the entire collection twice, due to the strict rules of sonnet form regarding word count, meter, and structure. Despite the difficulties, she remained committed to doing the work well. “If I was going to do something, I wanted it to be done right,” she said, echoing advice from her professor. She emphasized that she didn’t want to be seen as “a Black girl coming in and writing whatever she wants, making up her own formula for sonnets.”
Her dedication led to a deeply emotional moment when the book was finally complete. “Alone in the room, I cried and cheered with joy,” she recalled, overwhelmed by the realization that her work was done.
However, publication brought its own hurdles. After submitting the manuscript to literary agents and publishing houses, she was met with repeated rejections. “Decline, decline, decline,” she said. The rejections were discouraging, but they didn’t stop her. Instead, Ms. EJ made the bold decision to self-publish. Seeing her book live on Amazon brought another wave of emotion — this time, tears of fulfillment. “Seeing my work out in the world made me cry even harder,” she said.
Balancing her teaching duties and responsibilities as a mother means she needed discipline. She had to carve out dedicated writing time, which she did every Saturday.
To aspiring writers, Ms. EJ offers this advice: “Keep writing, knowing that at some point your words are going to affect at least one person. So write for the one person you want your words to impact. Don’t worry about rejection.”
The message she hopes readers take from her book? “Now we’re here. We ain’t going nowhere.”
