It’s also #pubday for Poppy’s second novel “A Drop of Patience.” Originally published in 1965, the year I was born, and then again in the 90’s it’s one of my favorites of Poppy’s books. People say it’s a jazz novel, and it is, but it’s mostly about trauma, and navigating a world where shyt is thrown at you that you have no control over but you survive anyway. It also explores the question how do you love yourself when you’ve never been taught how? But you take what you have... in this case, Ludlow Washington’s ability to play a horn, and you make it work for you. My dad was generally one of the most optimistic and hopeful people you could ever meet. He looked at the bright side of EVERYTHING. He would always say “it’s either a blessing or a lesson” but of all his books this one felt the saddest to me. But like all things Poppy, there is always Hope. Poppy’s favorite colors were red, yellow, blue and purple. So this is the purple... and in the illustration I tried to give the feeling of Greenwich Village in the ‘60s where a lot of jazz clubs were. Lol I kinda messed up this one’s proportions and so some of the more obvious references got cut off at the bottom. Maybe later I’ll post the original. I also agonized over this illustration a LOT more than the others I did. I was a tad too emotionally invested lol. Please support your local bookseller especially those owned by people of color, and by women (tag them below!). Listen to my fam @jsmooth995 narrate by downloading an audiobook from @vintageanchorbooks. And thank you ALL for the love and encouragement and cheering-on. #williammelvinkelley #blackwriters #bronxwriters #bronxborn #harlemhoned #adropofpatience https://www.instagram.com/p/CCEhLeShIvJ/?igshid=1hhy0v0ngacz0
