09/25/2026
The first book I ever read on my own as a young girl was Charlotte’s Web. It made me cry. The library was my favorite spaces and the only time it was safe to roam on my own.
I think about how words are portals. Buildings too. The way you can step from the halls into the music room and feel a different movement. The way listening, writing, reading demand us to transcend the intellect to access the imagination and embody the abstract. To know more than what we are.
Those meant to be there appeared. One by one, some all at once. Michaela and I met yet again and it felt like talking with one of my good homegirls. Mom assisted in all the printing and Kwame made sure we had refreshments and everything was symmetrical.
As the evening progressed, I read 5 select poems from the collection. In between each reading, I played a specific sound meant to evoke the transitions that take place in the book in real time.
Justine Castle documented it all. This is the evening though her gifted eyes.
My deep desire is that this is only the beginning. To more writing, more performing, more trying something new, more gathering, more preserving, more.
With immense gratitude,
adria
