>> I ALWAYS SAY THAT I USE MY POETRY TO ARCHIVE MY LINEAGE.

BY THAT, I MEAN, I FEEL REALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR PRESERVING MY FAMILY'S HISTORY AND THE STORIES OF WOMEN IN MY FAMILY.

I THINK ABOUT POETICS AS A SPIN ON DOCUMENTARY WORK.

I THINK YOU GET TO DO A LOT OF INTERESTING THINGS WITH POETRY.

YOU GET TO NOT LIE, BUT POETRY IS LESS ABOUT FACTS, AND MORE ABOUT WHAT THE OVERALL TRUTH IS RIGHT?

MAYBE THE ROOM WAS NOT BLUE, MAYBE THE SONG WAS PLAYING WAS NOT A SPECIFIC SONG, BUT THOSE KINDS OF DETAILS MATTER A BIT LESS.

I LIKE PLAYING WITH THE IDEA OF DOCK YOU POETICS AND ARCHIVING THE NATURAL LINEAGE.

IT LETS ME INTERPRET STORIES IN A WAY THAT HONORS WOMEN THAT CAME BEFORE ME.

I ALSO THINK THAT IS VERY INTERESTING.

I SEE PEOPLE DISRUPTING TYPICAL DOCUMENTARIES, AND TO ARCHIVE SOMETHING FOR THE HISTORICAL RECORD.

I FEEL LIKE IT IS REALLY IMPORTANT.

THERE HAS BEEN A LOT OF CONVERSATION AROUND LACK WOMEN IN THE ARCHIVES.

AND WHAT IT MEANS, AS A BLACK PERSON TO COME TO ALL OF THE TRADITIONAL ARCHIVES AND NOT SEE YOURSELF IN THEM, BECAUSE OF HISTORICAL LITERACY GAPS, AND THE WAY THAT HISTORY WAS HISTORICALLY DOCUMENTED.

I AM NOT WORKING WITH TRADITIONAL ARCHIVES, I AM WORKING WITH OLD STORYTELLING THAT HAS BEEN PASSED DOWN.

THAT IS WHAT I HAVE ACCESS TO.

FOR ME, PART OF DOCUPOETICS IS TAKING SERIOUSLY THE OTHER FORMS OF ARCHIVES.

THERE OFTEN TIMES MORE FRAGILE.

EVEN AS I MOVE THROUGH, OR I HAVE BEEN MOVING THROUGH THE INTERVIEWS, I HAVE PEOPLE WHERE I'M TRYING TO GET THEIR STORIES, AND THEY DIED ON ME.

THAT IS THE END OF THAT EMBODIED ARCHIVE.

MY ACCESS WAS ONLY PRESENT AS LONG AS THAT PERSON WAS THERE.

THEY WERE HOUSING IT IN THEIR BODIES.

THAT IS HOW I VIEW DOCUPOETICS.

I STARTED MY INTERVIEWS WITH MY GREAT-GRANDMOTHER WHEN SHE WAS IN AN ASSISTED LIVING FACILITY WHEN SHE WAS TERMINALLY ILL.

I WOULD SIT AND ASK HER QUESTIONS.

I WAS THE FIRST OF A SERIES OF INTERVIEWS THAT I DID.

START OF THE PROCESS WITH MY MOM AS WELL, I HAVE A CHAT BOOK CALLED BLOOD FLEX.

I REALIZE EVERYTHING ABOUT HER, EVERYTHING ABOUT EVERYTHING IN THE BOOK WAS FROM MY PERSPECTIVE.

I DID NOT FEEL LIKE IT WAS ETHICAL FOR ME TO SAY THAT I AM GIVING MY MOTHER A VOICE WHEN MY MOTHER HAD HER OWN VOICE AND HER OWN LANGUAGE TO TALK ABOUT AND SHARE STORIES.

THAT IS HOW I GOT UP ON THE PROCESS OF ARCHIVING.

USUALLY I DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT.

SOMETHING THAT HAS BEEN VERY SURPRISING FOR ME HAS BEEN HOW EXCITED PEOPLE ARE TO TALK TO ME.

I GUESS, NOT JUST EXCITED, BUT WILLING.

I THINK I ALWAYS EXPECTED, MAY BE LESS EXPECTED, BUT I ALWAYS WAS VERY CAUTIOUS.

I NEVER WANT MY FAMILY TO FEEL LIKE, I AM COMING IN AND ENCROACHING, AND MAKE THIS GRAND STORY ABOUT YOU, OR DO SOMETHING THAT FEELS GROSS.

IT SEEMS NOT JUST ETHICAL, BUT VOYEURISTIC.

SEEING HOW OPEN THEY ARE TO TALKING TO ME HAS BEEN A VERY PLEASANT SURPRISE.

SEEING THE WAY THESE THINGS FAVOR THE MEMBERS, AND IT SHAPES OR SHIFTS THE STORY.

I HAVE AN OLDER COUSIN THAT I INTERVIEWED RECENTLY.

IN THE STORY HE IS TELLING, HE TALKS ABOUT MY GRANDMOTHER, BUT FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF CHILD HE TOLD THE STORY ABOUT HOW SHE TOLD HIM THAT SHE WAS PREGNANT WITH MY MOTHER.

I NEVER THINK ABOUT MY GRANDMOTHER AS AN AUNT, OR BABY SISTER, OR IN THESE OTHER ROLES.

WHEN I WAS FIRST TRYING TO DO SOME OF THE ARCHIVAL WORK, AND I WAS WRITING, I DID NOT WANT TO WRITE.

I DID NOT WANT TO PUT MY FAMILY MEMBERS AS CHARACTERS COME ON THE PAGE, BECAUSE I THINK WHEN SOMEBODY HITS THE PAGE, THEY BECOME TWO- DIMENSIONAL, AND THERE IS NO WAY FOR SOMEBODY READING A TEXT TO KNOW ALL THE INTRICACIES OF SOMEONE.

I STARTED TO CREATE CHARACTERS THAT WERE LOOSELY BASED OFF OF DIFFERENT PEOPLE OR COMBINATIONS OF PEOPLE.

ONE OF THE CHARACTERS WAS EILEEN, BUILT OFF OF A COMBINATION OF WOMEN.

AS I AM GROUND, I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE A WOMAN FOREVER, THEN, I BECAME A MOTHER AND A GRANDMOTHER, AND PEOPLE FORGOT SOME POINT, I WAS A GIRL.

THE BODIES SEE-THROUGH ENOUGH CHILDREN, LEAK ENOUGH MILK, HAVE ENOUGH BABIES, AND PEOPLE THINK THAT IS ALL YOU HAVE EVER BEEN.

A MOTHER, A DUTIFUL WIFE, AND THEN A WIDOW, SURGICAL BLADE ACROSS THE ABDOMEN FOR THE THIRD CHILD, THE LIKE A SHARPER ONE OF MY NECK WHEN MY HUSBAND DIED.