Asylum
by Renee Daniel Flagler

This book of poetry is a personal institution erected to serve as a sanctuary for the experiences, thoughts, and ideas of a 21st-century black woman-a visceral collection of reflections about race, bias, injustice, and hopes; the telling of autobiographical experiences of a singular black woman, mother, and a professional; a safe haven for the joys and pains of being an African American and a woman in America. The reflections are steeped in historical contexts that penetrate the present and shape the future. It is a resting place for unsettled sentiments, anger, prayers, and pleadings against the backdrop of a society divided. Its hope is to display the insides of black and brown lives to knit cultures, races, men, and women together into a tapestry of understanding. Asylum is one poet’s safe place where the sanctity of her truths may find refuge.