1 Books Published by Belladonna* on AALBC — Book Cover Collage

This book, DAY PULLS DOWN THE SKY / A FILAMENT IN GOLD LEAF is comprised of Okwui Okpokwasili’s song lyrics and Asiya Wadud’s poems written in response to them. These pages contain both a collaboration and two parallel manuscripts, with Wadud’s "a filament in gold leaf" heading the pages, and Okpokwasili’s lyrics for "day pulls down the sky" footnoted by the musical sign for coda. This sign was selected in order to express the connection between Okpokwasili’s lyrics and Wadud’s poems. The coda notation indicates "expanded cadence."

In writing through Okpokwasili’s music, Wadud wrote poems as she listened to particular songs and wrote the entire suite of poems listening to the album’s sixth song, "follow me." The grey scale coda signifies the presence of "follow me" throughout the entirety of a filament in gold leaf, and the black coda marks a more singular association between specific poems and songs.