Write This Second: A Poetic Memoir

By Kira Lynne Allen

Read Kira Lynne Allen's Write This Second: A Poetic Memoir cover-to-cover in order to grasp the arc of her journey. It is not a comprehensive rendering of her life, but a focus on lived experiences highlighting societal tides that must turn. The tides of: racism, incest, poverty, rape, addiction, eating disorders, being silenced, domestic violence, suicide and PTSD that have yet to be addressed by #MeToo or Time's Up. Their deep impact demonstrates how generations of women and children will continue to drown in these tides until we speak to and listen to and believe one another. Staceyann Chin says, "it is a baptism in hard truths. Dive in. Read it. Twist and turn your body as you glide though the ocean of Kira’s words." Write This Second tells one family's story of generational trauma that sounds an alarm meant to reveal and disrupt the roots of rape culture by proclaiming our authentic selves.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nothing But The Truth Publishing
• Release date: Jun 30, 2014
• ISBN: 9781946706027

Kira Lynne Allen

Kira Lynne Allen is poet, performer, collage artist, activist, and Certified InterPlay Leader. She is a four time VONA Voices Fellow, a Poetry for the People alumna, a phenomenal workshop facilitator and a motivational speaker. She is a contributor to All the Women in My Family Sing, Tayo Literary Magazine and Endangered Species, Enduring Values. She has more than a dozen poems in anthologies and two self-published chapbooks. Write This Second: A Poetic Memoir charts her journey from desecration to divinity; from addict and high school dropout to master’s degree recipient, in order to sound an alarm meant to reveal and disrupt the roots of rape culture by proclaiming our authentic selves. She has a BA in Creative Writing from Mills College and an MA in Transformative Arts from JFK University. Kira grew up in the Bay Area and raised two brave, brilliant, resilient daughters in Oakland, CA; where she still lives with her partner Kat.

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

Write This Second: A Poetic Memoir is a baptism in hard truths. Dive in. Read it. Twist and turn your body as you glide though the ocean of Kira Lynne Allen’s words. As I read, the words washed over me, encouraged me to keep telling my own stories. It challenged me to keep challenging those without the inclination to believe me. It forced me to remember, that I am not alone. Not alone in my terror. Not alone in my survival. Not alone in looking forward, to a time when it will be par for the course for every survivor to be heard. Not alone in imagining the joy of a world where our stories will one day only be, past tense, ancient testaments to that time in history when gender used to make us vulnerable, when the beauty of being girl, being woman made us