Daydream
by Ashley Elizabeth
I know a lot of words
No, really, a lot of words
Words like pulchritude and absolve and nigga please
Words like lit and exuberant and juxtaposition
Words like grandiose and ayooo and penultimate
Words like freedom
Wait words is freedom
Yes I said is.
Yes I’m an English teacher, and I said is
I said what I said
And check this: I can use them all in a sentence
Check this: the reason why reading was illegal for Black folk
was to make sure no slave could daydream of more.
Ashley Elizabeth (she/her) is a writing consultant, teacher, and writer from Baltimore, MD. Her works have appeared in SWWIM, Santa Fe Writers Project, and Kissing Dynamite, among others. Ashley's first chapbook collection, you were supposed to be a friend, is available from Nightingale & Sparrow. When Ashley isn't teaching, editing, or working as a co-founder of the Estuary Collective, providing low to no cost programming and a safe space for BIPOC writers, she habitually posts on Twitter and Instagram (@ae_thepoet). She lives with her partner and their cats.