So much of my writing process is trying to eliminate any kind of shame or fear of the thoughts that I'm having. Where I would usually backspace, I stop and say, "You know what? This is important, that I say how I feel and don't sugarcoat it, and don't avoid it." In my experience when I do try to avoid something, it makes its way into the work anyway. To be in front of it and just make friends with it is easier for me.
Morgan ParkerThe book [There are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncรฉ?] is quite complex, and I was worried that it would be marketed as one-sided or flat, and I knew that Mickalene's [Tomas] work would be able to encompass all the many states of being that are in the book.
Morgan ParkerI wanted [the book 'There are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncรฉ?'] to be colorful. I wanted it to be evocative. I wanted a figure of a black woman that the reader has to confront.
Morgan ParkerI really hope that people feel permission to talk about their own troubles, but also to celebrate themselves.
Morgan ParkerIn grad school, a friend and I gave ourselves the task of writing poems in the voice of Beyoncรฉ and Lady Gaga after they did the collaboration for "Telephone." I just kind of kept going. That was quite a while ago - Beyoncรฉ meant something very different then than she does now.
Morgan ParkerThere's something about us using the word fascism and thinking about, "What is it? What does it mean, and what are the tenets of it?" I've been thinking a lot about folks denying what has happened in history, or just not acknowledging it. I think there's something that's fascist, and something that I think we could probably learn from, in terms of the energy in the world right now.
Morgan Parker