Author Description

Poems. To be black and happy in America is a fundamental paradox and a constant struggle. I am charged with loving this country unconditionally, even when I feel it doesn't love me. Originally, these poems were titled Quite Happy: Poems on Black Life. Although accurate, that title did not capture what I hope is the universality of the sentiments contained in the chapbook. For example, I think many women, regardless of color/race/identity, struggle with a perceived perpetual availability. Likewise, I think many Southerners understand that sweet tea is not a vice, but a summertime staple. So, while these poems reflect my thoughts on my black life - which is distinctly, although not "tragically" black - I hope they connect with all readers. Marshall McLuhan is quoted as saying "publication is a self-invasion of privacy." He also said that "the future of the book is the blurb." Quite Happy is both. The poems contained here are abbreviated versions of secret and difficult conversations. Truth is often painful. Yet, I choose to keep grasping for it...to make sense of the utter senseless. And, frankly, when I am justifiably angry - at the historical maltreatment and the current disregard of blackness - I harbor those thoughts long enough to taste and spit them out. Regardless of the situation, my natural tendency is toward happiness...to find, as Black Star rapped, "beauty in the hideous."