 Thank you so much Shizui and thank you to everyone who's here to all the contributors So this is an odd kind of introduction, but it's how I'm feeling today. I was Born into a family where I was the baby girl. I had two big sisters and then my dad and them went away and I was an only child for a number of years and at 15 and three-quarters I became the eldest And so I've been Mamakira for a very very long time And this is the first year in my life where I'm Mamakira to myself So when I called my daughter to share with her what I was submitting for this anthology She said mom, it's just the very beginning of the poem. Where's the rest? This is called to abide being a black lesbian in America. I learned to leave my home Simultaneously wearing two sets of clothes The first is inside out So that the softest pieces of the fabric The parts without seams or hams or ragged strings Sit next to my skin The other is right side up so that I am presentable palatable This kind of tangible code switching Keeps me from scratching my own self raw Prevents the hyper vigilance from making me insane Still the first two minutes in the shower Feels like little blades cutting into my flesh Till I start to relax Begin to imagine breathing Without my very essence being under attack Until her soft cinnamon chocolate skin touches mine at the end of each day and I remember nothing is as important as our ability to love and be loved Thank you