Speaker 1: Hello Sunshine, Hey fam Today on the bright Side, best
Speaker 1: selling author and poet Tara Stringfellow is here to discuss
Speaker 1: her latest poetry book, Magic Enough, which celebrates the vibrancy
Speaker 1: and vitality of black womanhood. It's Wednesday, June nineteenth. I'm
Speaker 1: Simone Boyce.
Speaker 2: I'm Danielle Robe and this is the bright Side from
Speaker 2: Hello Sunshine.
Speaker 1: Today is a very special day on the bright side, y'all.
Speaker 1: We are celebrating Juneteenth.
Speaker 3: Happy June teenth to everybody.
Speaker 1: Yes, you know, Danielle, this is a holiday that has
Speaker 1: long been celebrated in some black communities and black families,
Speaker 1: particularly in the South, And even though it became a
Speaker 1: national holiday in twenty twenty one, I think some Americans
Speaker 1: may still be learning about this holiday, or at least
Speaker 1: the meaning behind it for the first time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, can you tell us the history of it?
Speaker 1: I would love to. I think that's so important to
Speaker 1: set the record straight because a lot of us didn't
Speaker 1: grow up learning about this holiday. In schools, were taught
Speaker 1: that the Emancipation Proclamation ended slavery in eighteen sixty three,
Speaker 1: but in reality, it took two more years for troops
Speaker 1: to reach Galveston Bay at Texas, freeing the more than
Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty thousand slaved black folks in that state.
Speaker 1: So those troops arrived on June nineteenth, eighteen sixty five,
Speaker 1: and that is why we celebrate Juneteenth today.
Speaker 2: Simon, thank you for sharing the history of the holiday.
Speaker 2: I just learned about it a few years ago, and
Speaker 2: I think I'm probably not alone in that as a country,
Speaker 2: we're learning how to properly celebrate and mark this day.
Speaker 2: And I'm curious how you relate to the holiday. Now.
Speaker 1: Here's what this holiday means to me, Danielle. I actually
Speaker 1: didn't grow up celebrating June teenth. My mom is African
Speaker 1: American and her family did not live in the South,
Speaker 1: so it wasn't a thing that they grew up celebrating. Now,
Speaker 1: I had a peripheral awareness of it, but I'm so
Speaker 1: happy that we have it now, especially as a mom.
Speaker 1: As a parent, this means that I get to create
Speaker 1: new traditions for my children and I get to instill
Speaker 1: them with the meaning behind this holiday. And I think
Speaker 1: it's also significant because patriotism can be a tricky concept
Speaker 1: for a lot of black folks. Having ownership over the
Speaker 1: American experience is something that feels very complicated because we've
Speaker 1: been in chains for longer than we've been free. So
Speaker 1: just receiving this acknowledgment of Juneteenth is caused for celebration.
Speaker 1: In my eyes, I love.
Speaker 2: How you said that, Simone, And you know, when this
Speaker 2: became a federal holiday in twenty twenty one, I thought
Speaker 2: that it was a very small recognition, but at least
Speaker 2: some recognition that black history is American history, because a
Speaker 2: lot of times black history gets lost in our history
Speaker 2: books in schools, and so my hope is that this
Speaker 2: spurs at least whether you're celebrating with food and fun
Speaker 2: or you're just acknowledging that this date is momentous. I'm
Speaker 2: hoping it spurs some sort of like conversation about what
Speaker 2: this means. I want to know some of your Juneteenth traditions, though,
Speaker 2: like what are you going to be doing with your kids.
Speaker 1: I'm going to have a cookout with my family and
Speaker 1: some friends. And I'm so glad that you brought up food,
Speaker 1: because food is a really accessible way to tell the
Speaker 1: story of emancipation. Even if you don't know what food
Speaker 1: items belong on the Juneteenth men, you know these foods
Speaker 1: because you've grown up eating them and loving them.
Speaker 3: Tell me what's on your plate.
Speaker 1: I need to know watermelon, of course, beautiful summer fruit,
Speaker 1: fried chicken, barbecue, red drink, red velvet cake. And you'll
Speaker 1: see red in a lot of Juneteenth foods because the
Speaker 1: red carries this really beautiful and painful symbolism. It represents
Speaker 1: the blood of our ancestors. So that's why we incorporate
Speaker 1: a lot of red into our foods. And there's even
Speaker 1: symbolism behind foods like fried chicken. Fried chicken today in
Speaker 1: America is something that you can encounter in your everyday life.
Speaker 1: You know, you can get it at a drive through,
Speaker 1: you can get it at the grocery store. But right
Speaker 1: after emancipation, if you were a black person in America
Speaker 1: and you had a chicken, it was a symbol of prosperity.
Speaker 1: It meant that you could provide for your family. It
Speaker 1: meant that you had means, and so it was a
Speaker 1: food that was used as a point of celebration and
Speaker 1: it continues to be that for us today.
Speaker 3: I didn't know some of this, Simone, thank you for this.
Speaker 1: In addition to the incredible history of African American food,
Speaker 1: Juneteenth is a wonderful time to acknowledge and honor all
Speaker 1: the black artists who help us put all of these
Speaker 1: feelings into words. And Tara string Fellow is one of
Speaker 1: those artists that comes to mind. She is such a
Speaker 1: dynamic and exciting new voice in the poetry and literary space. Danielle,
Speaker 1: she was actually a former attorney and high school teacher,
Speaker 1: and then she got her first break when she she
Speaker 1: sold her book, and she just committed to diving into
Speaker 1: writing full time. And that first book, it was called Memphis.
Speaker 1: It became a national bestseller and it was longlisted for
Speaker 1: the prestigious Women's Prize in Fiction. Tara actually comes from Memphis, Tennessee,
Speaker 1: which is a place where I spent several years growing up.
Speaker 1: And her new book of poetry is what she calls
Speaker 1: a love letter to her culture, her family, and the
Speaker 1: city that she calls home.
Speaker 2: But you know, before calling Memphis her home, Tara grew
Speaker 2: up all around the world because her father was in
Speaker 2: the Marines and was stationed in places like Okinawa, Ghana, Spain,
Speaker 2: and Italy. She is miss worldwide and she's keeping the
Speaker 2: joy and celebration going with her poetry book, Magic Enough.
Speaker 2: The book hits shelves on June twenty fifth this year,
Speaker 2: and it's an electrifying collection of poems that tells a
Speaker 2: universal tale of survival and revolution through the lens of
Speaker 2: black femininity. It's so exciting to see her success and
Speaker 2: see her be added to the canon of iconic writers
Speaker 2: like this is something that she has wanted to do
Speaker 2: since she was a little girl, and she's living it.
Speaker 2: I'm so excited to talk with her about her work
Speaker 2: and her inspirations and her family. I love how much
Speaker 2: we get to celebrate female authors and writers here on
Speaker 2: this show. The bright Side loves the written words, Simone
Speaker 2: and I love the written word, and there's just so
Speaker 2: much power in telling our own stories as a woman,
Speaker 2: as a person, and telling them in our own voice.
Speaker 2: Tara's work really exemplifies that.
Speaker 1: It sure does, Danielle. After the break, we're talking magic
Speaker 1: in Memphis with author and poet Tara Stringfellow.
Speaker 3: That's up next. We'll be right back.
Speaker 1: We're back with author and poet Tara Stringfellow. Welcome to
Speaker 1: the bright Side, Tara.
Speaker 3: Thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 1: No, thank you so much for having me Tara. Today
Speaker 1: we are celebrating Juneteenth. What does this holiday mean to you?
Speaker 4: It's my July fourth.
Speaker 5: It's the freedom of my peoples when we were actually
Speaker 5: considered human beings for the first time of this country.
Speaker 5: So it means a lot to me. I think it
Speaker 5: should mean a lot to everyone that black folk have
Speaker 5: a different data freedom in everyone else. And why is that?
Speaker 2: So?
Speaker 5: Yes, Juneteenth is significant for me in terms of just
Speaker 5: being a Southern Black woman. But I think it's an
Speaker 5: American holiday. It's American history, so we should all celebrate
Speaker 5: this holiday.
Speaker 2: We were talking about in our office how we were
Speaker 2: wanting to celebrate.
Speaker 3: How are you celebrating.
Speaker 4: Oh my goodness, I'm going to eat. I'm going to
Speaker 4: eat a lot. Are you eating? I'm going to eat.
Speaker 5: You know, Memphis is very famous, yes, for our music,
Speaker 5: but also so for food. So I'll probably go down
Speaker 5: a Cozy Corner and pick up half of furnishing or something.
Speaker 4: That's my favorite barbecue place in Memphis. It's called Cozy Corner.
Speaker 5: It's black owned, female owned for generations. Yes, close to downtown.
Speaker 5: It's a beautiful little place.
Speaker 1: Tara.
Speaker 3: I want to congratulate you on magic enough.
Speaker 4: Oh thank you.
Speaker 2: I was reading that this was a lifelong dream of yours.
Speaker 2: How does it feel to have the magic out into
Speaker 2: the world.
Speaker 4: It's surreal, you know.
Speaker 5: Since I was a little girl, I wanted to see
Speaker 5: my name in print underneath a poem. That's always been
Speaker 5: the dream. And it's a beautiful little book. I'm really
Speaker 5: proud of it. And I just can't believe that I
Speaker 5: have a whole book of poetry that's going to be
Speaker 5: out there. And like I wish I would have, I
Speaker 5: could go back in time and tell three year old me, like,
Speaker 5: just go play outside. It's fine, You've got this, Like
Speaker 5: it'll be okay, play with your sister more. And like
Speaker 5: you said, it is my life's work. I've been working
Speaker 5: on some of these poems for fifteen twenty years. Tara.
Speaker 1: You dedicated this book to Black women's I did. But
Speaker 1: your dad is actually the one who helped spark your
Speaker 1: love of poetry.
Speaker 4: Yes, no, you my pops.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 5: I wouldn't be the poet I am without my father.
Speaker 5: He's a poet. He read me my first poem when
Speaker 5: I was three, And y'all all know the poem at
Speaker 5: Once upon a Midnight Druai. While I ponder, we can
Speaker 5: weary over a mini curious and quaint volume of forgotten Lore.
Speaker 5: I heard that, I said, wow, it's like Grim's fairy
Speaker 5: Tales Once upon a Time. It's like rap because it
Speaker 5: ends in rhyme. It tells a story, a love story,
Speaker 5: and a scary story, like a ghost story, all at
Speaker 5: the same time. As a little kid, I loved Who's
Speaker 5: Pumps and ghost stories and Ralstein and.
Speaker 4: All of that.
Speaker 5: I was devastatingly in love, deliciously in love. So I
Speaker 5: just knew that I had to do that. And my
Speaker 5: father says, okay, you want to do this, then you
Speaker 5: have to be better than poet three ways. You're black,
Speaker 5: you're a woman, and you were born in a country
Speaker 5: built to enslave you. And at the time my father
Speaker 5: said this, you know, Maya Angela was a poet, but
Speaker 5: she had yet to write the inaugural poem on the
Speaker 5: Pulse of the Morning, so she was not a household name.
Speaker 5: There were no black female poets my father could think
Speaker 5: of in America where he could say, okay, go do
Speaker 5: you like her?
Speaker 4: Go make a living.
Speaker 5: And so my parents were rather worried, honestly, about my
Speaker 5: life's goal and how I would achieve that in a
Speaker 5: country design to ignore black Southern women. I told my dad.
Speaker 5: I said, okay, give me some time. So it took
Speaker 5: me about thirty five years, but I did it. It
Speaker 5: took me a while, but I did it. And my
Speaker 5: dad is actually flying in for the book launch for
Speaker 5: having a big party in Memphis at Novel Bookstore for
Speaker 5: the release, and my dad is flying in from DC
Speaker 5: to join. So this is a full circle moment from
Speaker 5: him reading me poetry as a little girl to folk
Speaker 5: actually reading my poetry.
Speaker 4: I can't believe it.
Speaker 2: As you were telling us that story, I was thinking, oh, wow,
Speaker 2: you and your dad did this together. This was a
Speaker 2: wee thing. Oh yes, Like what does it mean to
Speaker 2: you now? To be able to have him come to
Speaker 2: Memphis and to have this moment and share this work
Speaker 2: with him.
Speaker 5: It means everything. I think we're creating a strength fellow legacy.
Speaker 5: He is my first reader. I trust him completely with
Speaker 5: my words. He helps me edit. It's like and it's
Speaker 5: softer here, or wouldn't this touch be nice here. He's
Speaker 5: a great poet himself. He'll never publish. I'm not sure why.
Speaker 5: I guess he's just shah. But he's a far better
Speaker 5: poet than I am. And so it's great to make
Speaker 5: like a strength fellow legacy of poetry and prose and
Speaker 5: get our names out there. I'm not a marine like
Speaker 5: my dad, but I hope I'm bringing honor to our names.
Speaker 1: I'm getting this full picture of your dad, and you
Speaker 1: speak to his duality so beautifully because he has this
Speaker 1: tender side. He loves poetry. But Pops is also a
Speaker 1: marine and Marines. Yes, I mean that is the toughest
Speaker 1: sect of the military. Like you don't mess with the Marines,
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness. And because of him, and because of
Speaker 1: his career in the military, You've grown up living all
Speaker 1: over the world. What was the place the setting that
Speaker 1: had the greatest impact on you and your work?
Speaker 5: Two places so ok Noawa, Japan, where I spent my
Speaker 5: childhood in Memphis, growing up on a beautiful tropical island,
Speaker 5: growing up with kiwi trees and eating fresh mango and
Speaker 5: the best sticky rice and shrimp and oudan you'll ever have.
Speaker 5: Surrounded by people, ok now, and people who I hate
Speaker 5: to get a motion, but we're so good to me
Speaker 5: and my sister. You know, to grow up in a
Speaker 5: country as little black children, and no one ever ever
Speaker 5: made us feel less bad I can't say that it's
Speaker 5: the same in America, you know, I when I came here,
Speaker 5: I was made very much made as a black girl,
Speaker 5: as a dark skinned black girl to it, made to
Speaker 5: feel very much less than. So I owe my happiness
Speaker 5: and my joy to the Okinawan people into the Marine
Speaker 5: Corps for giving me that chance to live my life
Speaker 5: abroad in a beautiful tropical paradise. And then the second
Speaker 5: place is Memphis. I grew up here, and I, like
Speaker 5: the main character my novel Memphis. When I was ten,
Speaker 5: we came here utterly, utterly poor, but the city told
Speaker 5: me and taught me to love family, to love my community,
Speaker 5: to look music and food, and there's something so joyous
Speaker 5: about being in mehas this especially now as an adult,
Speaker 5: especially now as a writer. I think everything I write,
Speaker 5: this poetry book, my novel will be for the betterment,
Speaker 5: for the glory the beauty of black Memphis women. I
Speaker 5: think there's something magical about us.
Speaker 4: Something in the air.
Speaker 1: I wish that I had came across your work when
Speaker 1: my mom and I and my dad, my whole family
Speaker 1: were living in Memphis, because it is one of the
Speaker 1: most devastatingly segregated cities in the US. My mom and
Speaker 1: I found it extremely oppressive and challenging to live there
Speaker 1: as black women. And I'm curious to know how did
Speaker 1: you find the poetry and the beauty in your city.
Speaker 5: I have to disagree, Memphis, unlike any other place I've lived,
Speaker 5: is very diverse. You know, it's a beautiful place if
Speaker 5: you want to be an artist. Jamon Bullok is a
Speaker 5: beautiful muralist in the city. He took me to prom
Speaker 5: you know, yes, we all know each other.
Speaker 4: We all know each other.
Speaker 5: Okay, Craigm, I'm going to shadow of craigmont Oh three
Speaker 5: Chiefs right now. Like Jamon Bullock took me a famous mirrorless.
Speaker 5: I see his art all over Memphis when I'm driving
Speaker 5: and being Hampton Overtak, Like he's everywhere, and I'm like,
Speaker 5: that's a Jamon Bullock. Like I've seen those works since
Speaker 5: I was a little girl in high school. I think
Speaker 5: of Katari Jones, who does Pea Valley. She's the writer
Speaker 5: Pea Valley. She was a senior and I was a freshman.
Speaker 5: Lorilla is from my neighborhood.
Speaker 4: She's from Frasier, you know.
Speaker 5: So my city produces great, great artists. I love being
Speaker 5: a black woman in the city. I feel myself. I
Speaker 5: feel I can no matter where what space I am in,
Speaker 5: I feel like I can own that space.
Speaker 4: I feel right at home.
Speaker 1: I'm so glad that you have that experience. I had
Speaker 1: a totally different experience and maybe I just saw a
Speaker 1: different side of the city. But you are bringing beauty
Speaker 1: and honor and beautiful art to that city. So that
Speaker 1: is so encouraging to see.
Speaker 3: Ah, I have an embarrassing thing to tell both of you.
Speaker 2: Okay, So I'm such a Katari fan that I flee
Speaker 2: to Atlanta to see The Hot Wing King because it
Speaker 2: was only playing for three weeks and it's she want
Speaker 2: to pulletzer for it.
Speaker 3: It's amazing.
Speaker 4: But I'm I'm a big fan. I mean, she is.
Speaker 4: It's something about Memphis. It's something.
Speaker 5: I don't know what, but in the mid nineties they
Speaker 5: were putting something in the water making us all become
Speaker 5: great writers or something. But I'm just so proud of
Speaker 5: her and so proud to go to the same high
Speaker 5: school that she went to. And I'm just so proud
Speaker 5: of all the artists we're coming out of this city
Speaker 5: right now. They are doing amazing, amazing things. So it's
Speaker 5: an honor to be in the same conversation as those folk.
Speaker 2: Emphis is bursting with creatives and stories to be told,
Speaker 2: and your first novel, titled Memphis, is another exploration of
Speaker 2: that of writing about your roots and the matriarchs in
Speaker 2: your family. What does it meant to you to be
Speaker 2: able to highlight your heritage through your art?
Speaker 4: It means so much.
Speaker 5: As I walk around Memphis or the South, I don't
Speaker 5: see monuments to black women. I see monuments to Civil
Speaker 5: War Confederate traders, but I don't see monuments to black women.
Speaker 5: And I know black women were instrumental and finally getting
Speaker 5: Juneteenth or forgetting civil rights, especially here in Memphis. So
Speaker 5: the fact that I can walk around the city and
Speaker 5: not see memorials and poems and everything written about black
Speaker 5: womanhood just boggled my mind. So I said, Fye, I'm
Speaker 5: going to sit down and I'm going to write our
Speaker 5: own monument. I'm going to write an ode to black
Speaker 5: Southern women because I know that we've done everything our
Speaker 5: power to make this country great since we arrived here
Speaker 5: in chains. So I think my novel Memphis, and this
Speaker 5: poetry collection and all of the books I'll ever write,
Speaker 5: will always glorify and show a spotlight, shine a light
Speaker 5: for just a second on black Southern women. I say,
Speaker 5: why not.
Speaker 1: Well, speaking of your collection of poetry, magic enough, it's
Speaker 1: such a special title. What does that mean to you?
Speaker 5: It's from one of my poems, the last line of
Speaker 5: one of my poems. These women in my life, the
Speaker 5: women I know as they are, as flawed and complicated
Speaker 5: and gorgeous and dark skinned and poor, These women as
Speaker 5: they are are magic enough. Men can take a back seat,
Speaker 5: God can even take a back seat. If I am
Speaker 5: surrounded by these women, I know that there's going to
Speaker 5: be magic in my life, that I will lead a beautiful, full,
Speaker 5: graceful life. And so that's where the title comes from.
Speaker 5: It I guess it's a play on black oral magic.
Speaker 5: But why are we magical? What made us this way?
Speaker 5: It's because we've been do our centuries of you know, oppression,
Speaker 5: and yet look at all the joy that we have
Speaker 5: all the time, and look at the art that we
Speaker 5: can create. And so that's what magic enough means to me.
Speaker 3: We need to take a quick break, but we'll be
Speaker 3: right back. Stay with us and we're back.
Speaker 1: Can you tell us about some of the magical black
Speaker 1: Southern women in your life? What are the qualities that
Speaker 1: make them magical? And how can we incorporate some of
Speaker 1: that magic into our own lives.
Speaker 5: My mom wears red lipstick to go the doctor's office.
Speaker 4: Like right, red lace. She'll come at the house and
Speaker 4: where are you going? You look gorgeous?
Speaker 5: Like, oh, I'm just going the doctor. It was like
Speaker 5: the doctor. She's like, listen, I could meet my husband
Speaker 5: this day. Like aren't you like pearls? Did you wake
Speaker 5: up with them? On?
Speaker 4: Even I'm an on, like who aren't you women? Like
Speaker 4: can I come from you?
Speaker 5: So I was taught not to walk out the house
Speaker 5: without some red lips on in your business card, because
Speaker 5: you just never know. There's something about Southern women just
Speaker 5: being utterly graceful in all things. So just the grace
Speaker 5: that Southern women seem to have hair and nails done
Speaker 5: always just face you can't he never declines, I don't know.
Speaker 4: We've just been.
Speaker 5: That cultural and that beautiful and elegant and eloquent.
Speaker 4: So it's just it's just a pageantry of the South.
Speaker 4: I don't know. We can all cook and cook well.
Speaker 2: I don't know why I need to come to Memphis
Speaker 2: to learn.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Danielle doesn't cook, but we love her anyways.
Speaker 3: Right, Okay, so you have past lives.
Speaker 2: You were an attorney, you were a tenth grade English teacher,
Speaker 2: I was. You know, writing is a clear through line
Speaker 2: in all three of your professions. At what point did
Speaker 2: you decide you were going to be doing this full time?
Speaker 4: When I got the book deal and I could financially.
Speaker 5: The only reason I went to law school is because
Speaker 5: there was a recession. I'd, you know, come out of college.
Speaker 5: I had a book of poetry. No one but my
Speaker 5: family bought it, and I was like, okay, well I
Speaker 5: need to eat, I need to do something. So I
Speaker 5: went to law school so that it could finance me
Speaker 5: and pay for an education. And I was an attorney
Speaker 5: for years, but I would still sneak out and write poetry.
Speaker 5: Like I go to work early, and how early people
Speaker 5: thought I was a good worker. No, I'm writing a poem.
Speaker 5: I'd go there on Saturdays, I'd stay extra late, and
Speaker 5: they're like, oh, she's working.
Speaker 4: No, I'm editing the poem I wrote that morning, like little.
Speaker 2: Do you know?
Speaker 5: And then I became a teacher because that's a profession
Speaker 5: in which you have summers off, so I'd save up
Speaker 5: my pennies and i'd go to Italy or Cuba or
Speaker 5: Spain and i'd write Memphis. So I was working full
Speaker 5: time as a teacher, and then in the summers, I
Speaker 5: work full time writing and then submit that and I
Speaker 5: finally got a book deal while I was a teacher.
Speaker 5: And that's my journey. But that's the only reason I
Speaker 5: did other things, because I would have done poetry full
Speaker 5: time had there ever been a job for it.
Speaker 2: Well, now that you're an established poet, we'd love if
Speaker 2: you would read one of your poems for us.
Speaker 4: Oh, I'd love to. I'd love to. I'd be honored.
Speaker 4: Thank you. This poem is called poem at thirty.
Speaker 5: Always ferocious, skinny, wild, as some dark thing God never named,
Speaker 5: bringing clay turtles, snakes into the house, slipping out from grips,
Speaker 5: Laughing at my mother's shrieks. My father insists to this
Speaker 5: day that no man contain me. Please cheer with me,
Speaker 5: for he is right, he is right.
Speaker 1: Will cheer for you. Wooa so beautiful Yoh.
Speaker 2: Okay, So as you were reading, I had my own interpretation.
Speaker 2: But I'd love to know what that poem means.
Speaker 3: To you.
Speaker 5: It's about the resilience I think of black womanhood. I
Speaker 5: was inspired by Sonya Sanchez who Lucille Clifton has a
Speaker 5: poem called Please Celebrate with Me, and I said, well,
Speaker 5: how can I create a poem in that same line
Speaker 5: of celebrating black Southern womanhood, like won't you celebrate with me?
Speaker 4: I am this wild thing and this.
Speaker 5: Dark thing that Audrey Lord talks about in her poems.
Speaker 5: I wanted it to be a celebration of blackness and
Speaker 5: how Brazilian it is. And so I wanted the last
Speaker 5: line to be kind of a twist, like please cheer
Speaker 5: with me, for he is right. No man or God
Speaker 5: can ever tame me. There's a revolutionary spirit in that
Speaker 5: poem that I wanted to get across me. And I
Speaker 5: was turning thirty. I always write myself poems on my birthdays.
Speaker 5: They're like little love notes to myself.
Speaker 2: Did you feel like men were trying to contain you?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 5: Yes?
Speaker 4: Oh Lord. I was thirty. I was going through a divorce,
Speaker 4: I think.
Speaker 5: I remember, yes, yes, And I only got divorced because
Speaker 5: I felt as if this man did not support my dream,
Speaker 5: and my dream was to be a writer. It wasn't
Speaker 5: to be an attorney or even his wife or anything
Speaker 5: like that. It's to create beautiful, lasting art on this
Speaker 5: earth to the day I died. And I need someone
Speaker 5: who's going to support me in that. Otherwise what is
Speaker 5: the point of it all? And then I made the
Speaker 5: decision to leave my law career and go back to
Speaker 5: school to get my MFA at thirty years old. So
Speaker 5: my parents thought I was safe. They're like, what are
Speaker 5: you doing? You just finish law school. You can make money,
Speaker 5: now go do that. Why are you going to be
Speaker 5: a poet again? There's no career in that tar like,
Speaker 5: no one is a poet full time. I felt as
Speaker 5: if I was being put in some sort of societal
Speaker 5: box that I should just be happy because I'm married
Speaker 5: and I have a good man quote unquote and a career.
Speaker 5: But I was utterly unhappy. I didn't like this American
Speaker 5: dream that I had, and I wanted to fasten and
Speaker 5: shape my own life how I saw fit, and that
Speaker 5: meant traveling abroad, learning a new language, and putting I guess,
Speaker 5: all my chips on red, as my dad would say,
Speaker 5: taking a risk and putting my art out there. And
Speaker 5: it was scary, but I felt like I had to
Speaker 5: do it.
Speaker 3: There's no better bet that I'm bet on you. I've
Speaker 3: always felt that.
Speaker 2: Well.
Speaker 1: I think it's so courageous that you just blew up
Speaker 1: the life you didn't want and you pursued the life
Speaker 1: you did want. We are all about that here on
Speaker 1: the bright side.
Speaker 4: Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: When you think about the women that are going to
Speaker 1: be reading your book, magic enough? What magic do you
Speaker 1: want women to find in your poetry?
Speaker 4: Now that's hard for me, you know.
Speaker 5: I've loved poetry all my life, and it's so humbling
Speaker 5: that so many women are finding connections with something I've written.
Speaker 5: I'm still kind of grappling with that that my words
Speaker 5: can touch another human being, especially a woman. I'm just
Speaker 5: so grateful and honored. So if they pull anything away
Speaker 5: from this book, I just want them to know that
Speaker 5: everything I write is for them. Us women have so little.
Speaker 5: I think in this country. I wanted to just give
Speaker 5: us something nice. I think we should all we all
Speaker 5: just there's something nice and pretty, and I think this
Speaker 5: book is nice and pretty.
Speaker 4: I was reading a review and someone.
Speaker 5: Said it's a cross between like a good brunch with
Speaker 5: your girlfriends and like a good cry in the shower.
Speaker 5: So g this to be like everyone's a brunch and
Speaker 5: we're all like we've ordered another mimosa, but we're all
Speaker 5: kind of crying over something.
Speaker 1: Zach, I think we have the title of the episode.
Speaker 1: It's brunch and crying in the shower with Tara Stringfellow. Guys,
Speaker 1: that's so perfect.
Speaker 2: That honestly feels like my weekend, every weekend.
Speaker 1: Right right, but it does.
Speaker 5: It feels cathartic, like yeah, good cry, like tears of joy,
Speaker 5: like we made it, y'all kind of cry complainly.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much for spending your June teenth with us.
Speaker 4: Oh, thank y'all for having me. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Tara. Tara Stringfellow is a best selling author
Speaker 1: and poet. Her collection of poems, Magic Enough, is out
Speaker 1: on June twenty fifth. You can find it wherever you
Speaker 1: get your books.
Speaker 3: That's it for today's show.
Speaker 2: Tomorrow, we're talking with Reese's book Club Pick author Ali Condy.
Speaker 2: She's sharing her personal inspiration for her latest book, The Unwedding,
Speaker 2: and let me tell you it is good. Listen and
Speaker 2: follow the bright Side on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 2: or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1: I'm Simone Boye. You can find me at Simone Boice
Speaker 1: on Instagram and.
Speaker 2: Tiktok'm Danielle Robe on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 3: That's ro Ba.
Speaker 1: Y see you tomorrow, Folks. Keep looking on the bright side.