Growing up, Roya Marsh was considered "tomboy passing." With an affinity for baggy clothes, cornrows, and bandannas, she came of age in an era when the wide spectrum of gender and sexuality was rarely acknowledged or discussed. She knew she was "different," her family knew she was "different," but anything outside of heteronorm was either disregarded or disparaged. In this stunning debut, written to protest an absence of representation, Marsh recalls her early life and the attendant torments of a queer Black woman coming of age in America: I've been baptized twice / Washed over / Still gay / No choice / No Christian / No cure / Girl / No daddy / Daughter / No dresses / Jamaican / No accent / Girlfriend / No boyfriend / Won't tell a lie / But I'm always swallowing truth - From "in broad daylight black bipolar girls look grimey" In lush, powerful, and vulnerable verses, dayliGht unpacks traumas to unearth truths, revealing a deep well of resilience, a cutting sense of irony, and an astonishing fresh talent. A dazzling debut from a necessary new voice, Marsh's dayliGht is at once a clarion call for Black femme voices and a corrective to broken notions of sexuality and race.

A crucial new voice explores sexuality, grief, and the resilience of the Black woman, in this unconventional debut poetry collection

About the Author
A Bronx, New York, native, Roya Marsh is a nationally-ranked poet/performer/educator/activist. She is the Poet in Residence at Urban Word NYC and works feverishly toward LGBTQIA justice and dismantling white supremacy. Marsh's work has been featured in Poetry, Flypaper Magazine, Frontier Poetry, Village Voice, Nylon, The Huffington Post, Button Poetry, Def Jam's All Def Digital, Lexus Verses and Flow, NBC, BET, and The BreakBeat Poets Vol 2: Black Girl Magic.


Book Information
ISBN 9780374538897
Author Roya Marsh
Format Paperback
Page Count 112
Imprint Farrar, Straus & Giroux Inc
Publisher Farrar, Straus & Giroux Inc
Weight(grams) 124g
Dimensions(mm) 190mm * 127mm * 10mm