Dear friends, 

I hope this finds you well. Here we are in the last days of summer. Labor Day is right around the corner and the fall semester has started or will soon. Today is the last day of August, but I made it! My August newsletter is going out in August. I wasn’t sure if I had it in me to write to you. At the beginning of the month, I was sick with Covid. I’ve been fully vaccinated since February, I wear a mask, social distance, wash and sanitize my hands obsessively, and I still caught the virus. I share this with you not to dismiss the vaccine or safety measures. I’m telling you this so you will stay vigilant against Covid. Don’t let up! Being vaccinated meant I wasn’t in danger of going to the hospital. My family being vaccinated meant we weren’t worried about a loved one going to the hospital. I still quarantined and we were very careful not to cross-contaminate areas of the house. My sweet husband took excellent care of me for the 12 days I was home. A gift of love and patience. During that time, I thought about how much we are forced to ignore our health for the sake of productivity. This was the worst week for me to be away from work, but my body didn’t care about that. Sit down! my body coughed and sneezed. Sit down! my body yelled through my bones with every ache and chill. So, I did. I logged in to my work email just to set the away message and I rested.

I’m feeling better now. I have some lingering symptoms, but every day I feel a bit better. I’m glad I could sit down so that I could get up later. Now I think about how I can turn off the production machine in my daily life. What necessary rest and recovery can I allow myself without the doctor’s note? Friend, this is your sign to listen to your body and care for yourself before your body takes away your ability to choose. Breathe in and breathe out. You are enough.

Onward with love,

Amanda

American Sonnet 51

By Wanda Coleman 

in my last incarnation i inoculated myself

with oodles of dago red and stumbled into fame

without falling. i worshipped in the temple of Lady Day

and took Coltrane as my wizard. i always wore my mink coat

to the Laundromat and drank pale champagne with my

soft-boiled eggs. i believed King Kong got a raw deal.

i believe great and prolonged sex cured cancer. i believed

in the afterdeath. i was liberator of cough-and-gaggers

from the cages of their spew. i scavenged rusted auto parts,

built a niggah machine, loaded it with atomic amour and

wiped out all purveyors of poverty. . . swapped my pink

pearl for a black sapphire. and then one quincentennial

i rose from the magnificent effluvium of my jazz

to discover my children did not know me

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