Gunnysack

GUNNYSACK is a hybrid collection of nonfiction memoir and poetry. My objective was to explore my own voice; who I am on the page and what I have to say about myself and the world I inhabit. This work is fundamentally an exploration of self. It is the resounding theme in each portion of the writing. Investigating my father’s story became a deeper exploration of self, entangled with family, spirituality, and cyclical trauma; Blackness being the tie that binds. My poetry speaks profoundly to my Blackness and how it shapes my perspective of the world. My prose speaks to my familial history in Kentucky and how their lives inevitably shaped mine. My family's shortcomings, hardships, and ingenuity are the catalyst for who I became and subsequently, the voice that appears in my poetry and prose. With each piece I found a more authentic version of myself and, in turn, my writing became stronger and more profound.