I can hear all the wind chimes in Harlem (from the oldest elm with no plaque on
154th Street to that weird store run by Ms. Dee where she sells her ex- husband’s
records and ties)
and I can hear the elaborate stream of radiator water, boiling and climbing into our
most intimate spaces and warming us. My fur, in the sun, roaming our bed in
blindness.
I allow it to light me up. I’m a light. Fed by an other light. The cries of a child,
suddenly amplified. I can’t tell whether I want to run toward them or stay right
here.
Born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, Rio Cortez is the New York Times bestselling author of The ABCs of Black History (Workman, 2020) and I Have Learned to Define a Field As a Space Between Mountains, winner of the 2015 Toi Dericotte and Cornelius Eady Chapbook Prize. Her honors include a Poets & Writers Amy Award as well as fellowships from Cave Canem, Canto Mundo, The Jerome Foundation, and Poet’s House. Rio holds an MFA in Creative Writing from New York University.
From GOLDEN AX by Rio Cortez. Copyright © 2022 by Rio Cortez. Published by arrangement with Penguin Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.
Rio Cortez’s latest book is GOLDEN AX. Visit with her and her work at the Miami Book Fair 2022. Cover art by: ©Penguin Books
Welcome to SWWIM Every Day’s preview coverage of Miami Book Fair (MBF) 2021! The poets whose work you’ll be reading every weekday from October 25 through November 12 are just a few of the many authors from around the world participating in this year’s MBF, the nation’s largest gathering of writers and readers of all ages. They all look forward to sharing their work, thoughts, and ideas both in person and online. Between November 14 and November 21, new poet conversations and readings will be launched and available for free on miamibookfaironline.com (in addition to other content). For more information, visit the website and follow MBF on Instagram and Twitter at @miamibookfair and use the hashtag #miamibookfair2021.