Mahogany Browne: Hello everyone. My name is Mahogany L. Browne, and I'm the author of the new novel in verse, Chlorine Sky. Just thinking back on my memories of middle school and high school, how I unlearned love was the prompt that brought me to even creating the poem that begat this novel in verse. While the initial poem was built off of experiences of my childhood, the novel in verse took on a different form. There was a lot of fictionalization that happened. I had to put together several stories, thinking about things that had transpired in my past, in my youth, things that I witnessed. What does it mean to be an observer of your community? I tried to put all of those different memories and instances, all of those learnings, the happiness, and the struggle, into this one moment that folks could read. And hopefully not just bear witness, but also investigate how they may play a part in those kind of situations.

How the poem started or how anyone can start a poem. I think it's really easy to say, "Just be vulnerable. Talk about your emotions," but that's not really the easiest part. Sometimes we don't really know how we feel yet, right? So what happened for me that made this investigation possible, this exploration possible is to take a snapshot. I looked at old high school pictures. In looking at those old high school pictures, I then was teleported to this one moment. And from that moment, I could then go back to not just, "Oh, we were wearing this and this was the music that was on, and this was the food that we ate." But look at the smile of this person and how were they feeling, and then start unpacking that moment. And that's how the poems really took shape for me. That's how I come to all of my poems now. If I'm honest, there is some kind of visual aspect or some kind of tactile memory moment where I can touch that moment and it feels like I'm there all over again. Maybe it's a picture, maybe it's a song, but those landmarks for the memory serve as great catalyst points for writing poetry.

I'll read a small portion here, not necessarily the very beginning, but how the friendship came to be in Chlorine Sky. I'll read a little bit about Lay Li and the protagonist whose name is Sky:

Okay, so boom. This is how Lay Li and I met.

At the end of summer, when we ready to head into the first semester of freshman year, I got a problem

with the boys who keep slapping the water. Tyrone & Adam slap the water at me

when I swim by them. Because everybody knows I'm better than them on the basketball court.

Still, I keep calm. I play cool. I see a girl at the edge of the pool. Red swimsuit & long wavy ponytail.

Her right eyebrow lifted skylike: She ready for the joke. But she ain't laughing.

The boys slap the water. I swim under the current. I head to her side of the pool.

& so do they. They slap the water but her mouth ain't like mine. It ain't closed

lock-like & tight, until I'm on the court with a nasty dribble. It ain't safety pin safe

like my grandmother taught me. Her mouth curse them until their eyes water. Her lips

curl & she cross both her arms "& you betta not do it again!" They laugh

& she don't. This girl I never seen before got a name: Lay Li.

I wipe my eyes, stinging from the blue water. "Thank you," I say.