Khadijah Queen's Blog

Song: “Little Red Corvette,” Prince

Poem: “Another April, Too Cruel” by José Mármol (tr. Eileen O’Connor)

I landed in L.A. after midnight, collected my carry-on that had been gate-checked due to the small overhead bins on the CRJ-700 at the regional airport, and took the shuttle to the rental car place. After bumping around on that shuttle for more than a few minutes with a handful of other weary travelers—an older couple, a trio of men in fishing hats, a young man wearing over-ear headphones hunc...

Song: “Save the Children” by Marvin Gaye

Poem: “To Those of You Alive in the Future” by Dean Young

CW: Illness, gentrification, profanity

This became a pretty long post for something that started on my phone while I was at the ER! It also gets a little rant-y at the end, though I did cut a lot of it. And now you are forewarned.

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With Jodi-Ann Burey, my esteemed host and conversation partner at Third Place Books Ravenna, ...

Song: “Fairy Tales” by Anita Baker

Poem: “The Stranger in Her Feminine Sign” by Dunya Mikhail

We didn’t always have food in the house and couldn’t always pay the rent, but we had libraries—at home, and in the neighborhood. My mother kept books on health and popular thrillers stacked on the shelves, lightly used Robert Ludlum hardcovers and Dean Koontz paperbacks bought sometimes for a quarter at public library sidewalk sales. She didn’t like to answer the door for strangers, but the man who knocke...

Song: A Sky Full of Stars, Coldplay

The last time I flew with my son, he almost triggered an international incident. I have not told anyone about this—even family—but since we're facing another historic eugenicist moment, I thought it important to share, with my son's input and permission, a story about what can happen during a crisis when things go right.

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We were on a 13-hour connecting flight to London from the U.S. ...

Song: Wonder by Shawn Mendes

Poem: "Fairies" (2023) by Mei-Mei Berssenbrugge

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Family betrayals and deaths have come in a relentless wave since 2016, reaching a horrible crescendo not just during the first years of the pandemic, but continuing in 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025. At no time was I ready for that emotional devastation; the last (and forgive me for keeping the details private) came during a moment when I was lean...