Poetry n' music
I'm in Howard University's newspaper!! + music and poetry recs for poetry month
This is Vibrations Heavy, a newsletter about my musings and (mostly) good vibes from a publishing profesh turned author.
Love Radio, an ode to Black teenage love in all its forms—for a sweetheart, a family, your city, and most importantly yourself—is available everywhere you buy books.
A month late but, happy spring equinox! I’m setting intentions on what I want to accomplish this year now that it feels like it actually started, and what’s been coming up for me is allowing myself to feel all the feels. I’ve been reading poetry this month to help me get there.
Poetry + music
I’ve always loved poetry and spoken word. I wasn’t one to get on a stage and perform on anyone’s open mic, but I loooved witnessing it. Whenever I had the courage, I’d attend open mics on Howard’s campus, and snuck into a couple at Busboys and Poets. In New York, I allowed myself to roam more, finding myself at Nuyorican Poets Café whenever I could.
I’m going to let the poems speak for me, and maybe if you love them you’ll buy a copy or two 📚📚. One of the things I loved seeing more and more of (it’s always been there & now it feels like it’s celebrated more widely) is poets fusing their work into musical form.
❤︎ Muses for the Moment ❤︎
Golden Ax by Rio Cortez
My dear friend Rio Cortez wrote a collection called Golden Ax (longlisted for National Book Award too *cough, cough*) so I’m sharing one of her readers’ favorite poem with you (I know this because I hear the audience reaction at every reading I’ve been to), as well as a companion orchestra piece that was so beautiful I sent her a voice note in tears.
The WQXR interview features a song collaboration showcasing three of her poems, "Black Annie Hall", "Black Mary Wilkie", and "Black Lead in a Nancy Meyers Film", highlighting Black women sitting our Black behinds DOWN. Relaxing. Resting. I come back to this when I am remembering I can’t be good to anyone if I’m not doing that myself and that burnout is still something so much of us face in all areas of our life and there’s got to be some equilibrium.
“At Ease” full song
To hear the full song jump to 37:00 but I highly recommend listening to this in its entirety to hear their behind-the-scenes process, it’s a dream collab!
❤︎
when the poems do what they do by aja monet
“Who’s got time for poems when the world is on fire?!.”
This album is something special and keeps me pushing and remaining hopeful. Her cadence. Her urgency. Her nudging. The strength. I feel like she gives me a shoulder to cry on, a big hug, maybe a scream, and a moment of clarity. In talking and thinking about rest, I also know I don’t have the luxury to only rest. None of us do because in all our liberties, however big or small, we all have something to contribute. And however micro or macro that is, it means something, annnd it does something, in numbers. As we are seeing with students on campuses across the United States, individuals don’t move mountains, movements do. This is the album that will inspire anyone to keep going.
I also have MAJOR fomo about her tour events but from what I’ve heard…if she’s in your city you should go see her. You’ll understand if you watch her Tiny Desk.
P.S. If you are looking to help students who are currently protesting, here’s a list of schools and ways to support students HERE.
❤︎
CHROME VALLEY by Mahogany L. Browne & Sean Mason
“Music is the equalizer, it brings everyone into the room.”
Speaking of Nuyorican...most nights I’d see poet and mc extroidonaire Mahogany L. Browne on the stage, and now she’s teamed up with pianist/composer Sean Mason for her latest project CHROME VALLEY.
Kerosene Litany reminds me of this excerpt in Vinyl Moon, her young adult novel in verse, which to me shows what I love most about Mahogany, her power.
And in many of her poems and readings she somehow helps the collective channel their own. I feel like Storm (yes, X-Men ‘97 has me in a chokehold right now) every time I hear her speak.
Or I could let another poet say it way more eloquently -
“Mahogany L. Browne has long established herself to be one of the great living poets. But what is clear upon reading her luminous new collection, Chrome Valley, is that she is a master historian as well: of the heart, of lineage, of the griefs and joys that come with Blackness, girlhood, and motherhood in this country―and all their intersections.” ―Hala Alyan
The Moon That Turns You Back by Hala Alyan 🍉
Speaking of Hala.
From “Half-Life in Exile”
❤︎ Love Notes ❤︎
I’m in The Hilltop! 🦬💙♥️
I was interviewed for The Hilltop (Howard University’s newspaper and the nation’s oldest Black collegiate publication) recently to talk about my upcoming anthology, You’ve Got a Place Here, Too, which is an anthology of love stories set at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Shoutout to Alana Matthew for the interview!
I also got to talk about the contest we’re hosting for HBCU undergrad or grad students interested in having their story featured! I was also interviewed by student MyAhna Alston for the HU News service. Howard students are really coming through with the support ❤︎. There’s now less than a month to submit your story idea to www.youvegotaplaceheretoo.com.
❤︎ Events ❤︎
I’ll be in conversation with Elizabeth Acevedo!
DC, catch me interviewing the lovely Elizabeth Acevedo in June. This will be fun!
Tuesday, June 4 @ 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Hill Center DC
921 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE, Washington, DC
The event is free and open to the public!
~ School & library visits ~
I’m also available for school and library programming, so if you’re a teacher or librarian who wants to book me, reach out! I’m available for both in-person and virtual visits.
Much 🖤 to you all,
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