Aimee Herman's Blog - Posts Tagged "everything-grows"

There is something that happens to the brain during a very, very long car ride. It becomes a highway, stretching out, gathering traffic, sending out signs offering helpful bits of information (slow down, working zone). When I am behind the wheel, while he keeps track of license plates, I watch the silent film of landscape; I wonder what it is like to be a tree in the median which never gets climbed, carved into by lovers or hugged; I wonder if I will make it to my fortieth year of existence; I wonder if my mailbox at home has mail for me yet. He wants to talk, but I somehow left my words in Brooklyn. I use the wrong vocabulary here and I don't know the right dialect for manners in the south and I miss the sound of graffiti scraping off tongues that has become such a familiar sound in my city. I guess leaving is the best way to fall in love again.

“Discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” – Marcel Proust


Here, the trees are from literature, the kind which hide wild inside its bark. Living within the grass stems and rock formations: lizards and skinny squirrels.

On an early morning romp with the pup, I exhale city from my lungs. My brain forks into memories of past lives. Who was I best? How do I access that corner closet behind my kidneys that houses my widest smile?

Sometimes I fear I am most alone when I am loved.

My pup chases a family of ducks and I think about what part of my body feels most familiar. I contemplate a body not always in panic mode. I channel Proust, grow fingernail long enough to scoop out my left eye (my right one wouldn't budge), and replace it with milkwood. I blink blink blink and attempt a resurrection.

Is it possible to rewrite how we see things.

Here, in the south, Sea Grapes and Cabbage Palms. Maybe I can  unfurl the roots in me that just stopped growing.

Maybe I just need to keep digging.

Many, many years ago, I worked at Barnes & Noble. I helped to open the store in East Brunswick, NJ, which was an exciting opportunity to approach each naked bookshelf and place brand new from-the-box books onto each shelf and alphabetize.

When the store finally opened, I thought about how my fingerprints touched so many of the titles.

I always hoped that one day one of MY books would be there, all ISBN'd and ready to be read by another.

I am thrilled to be part of a list compiled by Dahlia Adler for Barnes & Noble of 12 of the most anticipated Historical YA Books of 2019.

Historical Fiction? Well, yes....1993 was a part of history. It was a slice of time (hopefully) captured in the novel to bring you back there (even if for the first time).

Thank you Dahlia Adler for including my words! And check out the other great YA books on the list to add to your queue!!!

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/t...

Please check out my interview in BOMB magazine!

Thank you to CQ (Christina Quintana) for your exquisite questions and Raluca Albu for being such a fantastic editor.

https://bombmagazine.org/articles/aim...

Thank you to School Library Journal for including "Everything Grows" on your list of LGBTQIA Books for Teens!

https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=26-l...

Set your dials to Columbia University's radio station WKCR FM 89.9 tonight, July 12th from 9-10pm EST for Art Waves. I will be reading some poetry, talking about my new novel, "Everything Grows" and sharing words through the airwaves!