June, I Do.
I am nearly speechless after witnessing another Please No Bullsh*t anniversary… I celebrate another Bullsh*t-free birthday with my newfound muse, New Orleans, bound by the magic of every single intention.
It is only recently that I’ve understood the sixth month to be mine. A month to be proud and true. True about the muck of metamorphosis (that’s why we’re all here); and truer—— the description of the taste(s) of little victories. I’ve been taking my sweet time, getting clear on the who/what/where’s of life; and figuring out what I want and need most, presently. Learning to stay present even when it’s hard. Truest: sometimes I live to write, and sometimes I write to live.
A proud month indeed, I am happy to announce that Kay Hollins, me, I am… in an anthology! I am 1 of 51 writers, all women of color*, featured in the WOC Writers’ anthology, Boundaries & Borders: A Literary Exploration of Global Voices. To have a moment like this in my career at 27, to be blessed to see this dream manifest… wow. It’s a reminder, to myself, to keep going, to keep writing. A reminder that my “best,” is not yet to come, it just is… whatever and whenever I say it is. To see “And When They Say We Can’t Be Mermaids,” a poem I wrote nearly 5 years ago, be reborn, given a new life and place in this world… “June 1st,” is dedicated to O’Shae Sibley, whose life mattered; because all Black Lives Matter. It’s an honor to have my work anthologized and to be in print amongst women writers whose stories wrap around the heart and refuse to let go. It’s a blessing to be seen, and heard in community, by this community.
Boundaries & Borders has already been spotted in several New York locations: Greenlight Bookstore, McNally Jackson Books at City Point, Lofty Pigeon, and Sister's Uptown Bookstore; and it is print-on-demand at Barnes & Noble. Spread the news. Tell a friend to tell a friend. Tell your community that a diverse, phenomenal, one of a kind collection by fifty women of color (across the globe) is HERE.
No bullshit, life is moving at an unrecognizable speed. I have to take breaks from the overdrive and oversharing; I am currently doing the [root]work, the dizzy-busy, the healing and getting free. I’m taking my time because I’m being told by higher powers to be patient! And to rest, to let true joy reach me, through all these obstacles… and what I’m working on sharing—— this magic, the mirroring, manifestation, and miracles in metamorphosis. June will be f*cking beautiful.
