“The one thing you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice. Your mind. Your story. Your vision. So write and draw and build and play and dance and live as only you can.” ~ Neil Gaiman
got a book?
I hadn’t seen Nikky Finney in a month of Sundays, and it was so, so good to see her again. Since I first met her nearly 30 years ago, I’ve believed her to be a bright light in this world, and together with Frank and Crystal? My goodness, my world was so full of love and light today, I could hardly stand it. Some days are just better than others, and while I’m grateful for all of them, this one came at the best time.
2 Responses
Hello, Kopana,
We’ve not been introduced, so I started to address you as Ms. Kopana but that’s assuming a lot of things, chiefly that you’re as habituated to formality as a form of respect to folks you don’t actually know as I am! I’m Gen X and raised by Traditionalists from the country, so there you go.
We have a friend in common, and she introduced me to your blog a few weeks ago. This is a public forum, so I don’t want to call her by name. She’s told me good things about you for a little over 3 decades now.
I wanted to tell you what a delight, a blessing, and a beauty your blog has been to me since I found it. I’m so sorry for your loss of Shero and the earlier one of Hero. Grief is still grief, no matter how stale and one big loss tends to stir up other dormant ones (at least in my experience). You and your grieving family and friends are in my prayers. I don’t know that they’ve ever done anybody much good, but you’re in them anyhow.
I have also found the work of Nikki Finney, Crystal Wilkinson and Frank Walker to be life-giving, as the best of art and music and culture always is. If your time with them was recorded and available to the listening public, I would be grateful for direction on where to find it.
If it was a live broadcast, oh, snap – I missed it, but let me know when you’re on the airwaves and I’ll try to remember. It’s always the remembering that gets me!
Please call me Kopana. I’m not nearly so formal as all that Ms. stuff. I’m so glad said friend led you to the blog and you enjoy it. And grief, well, we all face it, don’t we? The Affrilachian interview is currently restricted, but someday you’ll be able to hear it here: https://kentuckyoralhistory.org/ark:/16417/xt737p8tdp3n