The book [There are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé?] 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.

So much of my writing process is trying to eliminate any kind of shame or fear of the thoughts that I'm having.

We can look at history and see that [political turmoil is] fertile ground for art.

We kind of have to rewrite our own stories and our own ways of being free.

I've been thinking a lot about folks denying what has happened in history, or just not acknowledging it.

In grad school, a friend and I gave ourselves the task of writing poems in the voice of Beyoncé and Lady Gaga after they did the collaboration for "Telephone." I just kind of kept going. That was quite a while ago - Beyoncé meant something very different then than she does now.

I always say that my artist statement is to not be afraid to talk about the messiness - the unpleasant feelings and happenings around my life.