Spherical Woman Paperback / softback - 2009

Small and serious. An apt description of the 5' 1" woman who has approached each of her life's goals with a fiery, persistent intensity. Once she found the courage to say aloud "I am a writer," it wasn't long after that she declared herself a publisher. There is perhaps no greater evidence, though, of Kysha Brown's "seriousness," of her passion for excellence and powerful presence, than her poetry. In "fierce, spherical woman" she writes: in a world of squares I spin thirds entrapped in cubicles plotting the means to the arc of my dreams I am the directness of diameters dissecting planes of desire no matter where I be I want to see the other possibilities... Like much of her work, "fierce spherical woman" is a fearless exploration of inner space, a fearless declaration of self in the face of an unyielding world. Brown's poetry is widely anthologized, in such collections as Beyond the Frontier: African-American Poetry for the 21st Century (Ed. E. Ethelbert Miller. Baltimore: Black Classic Press, 2002) and Role Call (Ed. Tony Medina et al. Chicago: Third World Press, 2002). Critics have declared "meticulous craft, a fine ear for alliteration and a sensitive use of metaphor" as hallmarks of her work. For Brown, who began seriously pursuing a writing career after joining the New Orleans writing workshop NOMMO Literary Society in 1995, that meticulous craftsmanship is a means rather than an end. Producing a body of work that will stand up to time's critical eye is key to Brown's larger goal of contributing to literature, particularly poetry. When Brown joined NOMMO Literary Society at the invitation of Kalamu ya Salaam, a renowned New Orleans writer, she was delighted to find her literary home, a supportive and committed community of writers. "What I saw was that there was a life before me that I had not known possible," says Brown. "I knew then what I was born to do." Today, Brown Robinson finds herself immersed in a life of art and contribution, a future she only hinted at in 1998's "a letter to myself1": ...dear me i am writing to say that i am finally ready to join you in our future it has taken me so long to disembark because packing our bags for life is no easy task... ... at any rate, take care I'll be you when I get there