In this essay and poetry book about healing, South Carolina author M. A. Phoenix explores growing up in the state's Lowcountry and the healing power of community and ancestry.

You will meet more than eighty thousand people in your lifetime. Each meeting opens a doorway into your heart and kindles a spark that reaches outward, inviting others to join you in a shared journey of growth and belonging.

This American South book about family history helps readers connect with and heal themselves and their communities through love, simplicity, and family heritage. Poems and essays speak directly to the heart of each reader on their journey of reclamation and empowerment.

M. A. Phoenix is a spoken word artist, poet, vocalist, and storyteller of the Black experience. She performs regularly at festivals and events throughout the Washington, DC, area.

Inside this insightful essay and poetry book for healing, you'll find

• poems for replenishment, including personal growth poems, poetry about home, and poems for grief,

• provocative essays on how reclaiming your ancestry is reclaiming yourself, and

• a celebration of womanhood and heritage that makes this an ideal healing gift for women.

Readers of Chrome Valley and This Here Flesh will love M. A. Phoenix's bold, artistic contribution to the literature of Black womanhood and ancestry.

Family and community—an entire history—has imprinted on your life. This is not an insult, but an honor. Remember to heal.

M. A. Phoenix is a spoken word artist, poet, vocalist, and storyteller whose work centers the Black experience, community, and Southern living. A proud daughter of the South Carolina Lowcountry, she has called the DC metropolitan area home for the past two decades. Her work has been published in The Windhover literary magazine, and she performs regularly at festivals and events throughout the Washington, DC, area. M. A. Phoenix is also a founding member of The Book Academy founded by New York Times bestselling author Luvvie Ajayi Jones, a community committed to empowering bold voices and powerful storytelling.