Light Spun carries the reader on the poet’s journey toward xir. At once a meditation on love - outward and inward - this book is a collection of poems over a three year period, wherein the poet contends with xir experiences with love, mental health, and Black American spirituality.
tws: body dysphoria & dysmorphia, immolation, blood, anorexia
"Kwame is taking us on a thought experiment where, as xe put it, 'wholeness is being measured.'" - Nick Makoha, author of Kingdom of Gravity
"Each poem is a quiet catalyst in the body - a beautiful interrogation of the self." - Tatiana Johnson-Boria, author of Nocturne in Joy
This book is an answer to the American Sonnet. Through the structure of the sonnet, the pause and the breath explores the boundlessness that is the experience of xir black transness. Though laden with imagery, each sonnet remains a narrative that develops into an overarching narrative of wholeness. In this book, out as of January 2023, Kwame Sound Daniels urges the reader to pause and breathe through facets of personal identity. You can find the book at The Ivy Bookshop in Baltimore, MD or Chop Suey Books in Richmond, VA. Or wherever books are sold online.
tws: discussion of child on child sexual assault, body dysmorphia and dysphoria, & anorexia
"...for Daniels the sonnet is both a talisman against iniquity and a vehicle for hard-won celebration." - David Wojahn, author of World Tree
"...this is a book that will steal your breath as it did mine, and open the door to the self's endless possibilities." - Richard Jackson, author of The Heart as Framed: New and Select Poems
