Click here for Frequency: An Ultimatum PDF.
Contributor Notes
The opening pages of She Has a Name identify the collection as a “biomythography,” a term created by Audre Lorde to describe a narrative based on myth and history, fact and fiction. Kamilah Aisha Moon’s biomythography tells the story of a young woman with autism from multiple points of view. The speakers in these poems—sisters, mother, father, teacher—pursue answers to questions science can’t yet answer: “Autism, the one-drop rule for minds / we strain to understand, the catch-all...” While seeking to understand, the speakers yearn to protect the young woman—“The last thing / I ever wanted was to let her / down,” says the Father. Whether protector or questioner, each voice strives to understand what autism means to his or her own life.
Kamilah Moon is a recipient of fellowships to the Cave Canem Foundation, the Prague Summer Writing Institute, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, MA, and the Vermont Studio Center. She has also led creative writing residencies for the Langston Hughes National Poetry Project, Community Word Project, Acentos and Voices UnBroken. She has taught English and Creative Writing at Medgar Evers College-CUNY, Drew University, and Adelphi University. Moon received her MFA in Creative Writing from Sarah Lawrence College. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.
