May 18
“So what I desire most these days are the kinds of stories that will carry me into another summer. Meaning, the days when my skin burns most bright. & the tragic thing about language is how casually we use it. I say burn, & you may think a body lost to a forest. You may think the hottest star—dying out. I say burn & it is a love track lost to passion. An endless field of longing.”
— Chaun Ballard, from “Yes, I Beat Jason’s High-Yellah Ass for Making Fun of My Pronunciation and Emancipation Was Really Not That Long Ago,” Second Nature (BOA Editions Ltd., 2025)
