other worlds

There’s a cold weather advisory here in Toronto; it’s about 26 degrees and will get colder overnight. This time last week I was in Seattle where it was chilly and damp, yet I still saw Japanese cherry trees in bloom and there were snowdrops around this stunning globe in the Chihuly garden. I went there after finishing two talks with teen boys in detention. It felt wrong—being out in the sunshine, enjoying beautiful art—when the boys were likely back in their subterranean cell blocks. Each one got a copy of Find Your Voice, and there were some keen writers in each group. But it’s still hard to connect for forty minutes and then walk away. When we went to Elmina in Ghana, our tour guide took us from the slave dungeons to a nearby luxury beach resort. And again—it felt wrong but it was also a much needed salve for the soul. I’m not doing any school visits while I’m in Toronto. I’m attending the Ontario Library Association’s Super Conference and know I won’t see flowers blooming or a golden hummingbird hovering outside my window. In Seattle there was so much rain and gloom yet the city still felt lush with plants thriving and neon green moss clinging to curbs and concrete stairs. I definitely couldn’t live there in the winter, but the weather did help me turn inward. I’d talk to kids about dragons and ghosts during the day, then I’d hole up in the hotel and think about the ghost story I’m working on now…when my host recommended an island ferry I immediately thought of a faerie. I’m ready to write! Which is good since my essay is due on Monday. What if I said NO for the next few weeks? What if I honored the commitments I’ve already made but kept my calendar open for April, May, and June? I could probably finish three of the four books I’ve had “in progress” for the past few months. I’ve agreed to extend my LA trip next month so I can join a panel of Black women discussing colorism in Hollywood. I just published an interview on that topic with Yaba Blay and Kiri Laurelle Davis, and two other friends will be on the panel with me. I’m not going to follow up with the publisher that asked me to do five school visits next month; they’re clearly not serious and I don’t need the extra travel/work. I’ll be in Philly on February 8th for a reading at Uncle Bobbie’s, and I’m giving a talk on self-publishing at the Logan Branch of the Free Library on the 15th. I’m reading with another poet at Midtown Scholar Bookstore in Harrisburg on the 27th…