Writing with Juliet Iwelunmor

To survive, first begin. Preserve, do whatever it takes to lift yourself, free yourself from anything that is not in your name. What is your name. Who named you. When did they name you. Why did they name you. All this talk of naming began before anyone and anything framed you. They are like a stream of consciousness that announce the freedom of the great ones. Those with hands that glow in fire. Eyes that wander about the sun and her flowers or a bed of tulips along Euclid lane. So to begin, learn to survive with your name. The masterpiece of you.

I was told the other day my writing seems to read like a stream of consciousness of sorts. At first I was taken a back but then remembered this is what Ms. Toni Morrison reminded all of us to do always, dream. That thing which many often discourage in children, which my son struggles with in 4th grade, which seems to imply that I write often without coherence, is the masterpiece that defines my life. Thank you for reminding me too of my name. Thank you for helping me to frame how I survive and have survived academic spaces for the past 11 years, with a never ending stream of consciousness now aptly called something I keep every day or my name. Keep it for you, the meaning of Isioma.