Metaphors for My Two Step

Abstract

Metaphors for My Two Step Yalie Kamara (bio) •name tag•resume••cover letter•elevator pitch• •mission statement•not-for-profit••dot-org•best practices •hip autograph• ankle editing••toe kisses•shin signatures• •foot cursive•nickname••white flag•surrender• •province•territory• •border•flag• •mother tongue•root••family tree•coat of arms• •broken branch•small dance•shy-girl glide•introvert bounce• •perfume footed shimmy•Jesus walk••Rapper's Delight•tonic water• •with lime! [End Page 50] •radio edit•kid-friendly• •birth control•curfew••closed eyes•heaven somewhere• •becoming Dorothy•ruby shoes••heel click•heel click• •I wish I were home• •I wish I were home••I wish•I wish••I wish•Good night• [End Page 51] Yalie Kamara YALIE KAMARA is a Sierra Leonean-American writer and native of Oakland, California. She currently serves as Assistant Editor of Black Camera: An International Film Journal. She is the author of A Brief Biography of My Name (African Poetry Book Fund/Akashic Books, 2018) and When the Living Sing (Ledge Mule Press, 2017). Some of her poetry, fiction, and translations have been featured in The Poetry Society of America, Vinyl Poetry and Prose, Puerto del Sol, and Indiana University Press. She was a finalist for the 2017 Brunel International African Poetry Prize, a 2017 National Book Critics Circle Emerging Critics Fellow, and a fellow of the 2016 Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop. She received an MFA in creative writing (poetry) from Indiana University, Bloomington, and an MA in French culture and civilization from Middlebury College. She will begin her doctoral studies in English literature and creative writing at the University of Cincinnati in fall 2018. Copyright © 2018 Johns Hopkins University Press