978-0062993298 | Greenwillow Books
AMERICA, My Love, AMERICA, My Heart by Daria Peoples-Riley is a poem to the United States. A poem that carries questions for all of us who call America home.
“Do you love me?
Do you love me from the inside out?
Do you love me from the outside in?”
Is our love, our country’s love, conditional?
We already know the answer. It is conditional, and it shouldn’t be.
“Do you love my yes?
Do you love my no?
When I shrug my shoulders….
no sé
mo pa konné
I DON’T KNOW.”
As a nation founded on the principles of equality, justice, and freedom for all, it’s obvious that we still have a lot of work to do. People-Riley’s lyrical text invites readers, young and old, into an ongoing conversation around these timely and essential questions.
CLICK TO ENLARGE © Daria Peoples-Riley
“Do you love my brave?
Do you love my bold?
Am I to have?
Am I to hold?”
From the Author’s Note:
Like many children of color, I often experienced racism and biases at school. Back then, I didn’t know the words to describe how I was treated, but I do remember feeling as though my classmates and my teachers liked one another more than they liked me. … Sometimes I wondered if they treated me differently because my family was black and theirs weren’t. Or because my family was different from other families in my community… I often changed who I was to fit in. I also pretended that the way I was treated didn’t bother me. But it did. It broke my heart.
AMERICA, My Love, AMERICA, My Heart by Daria Peoples-Riley is a must read for every classroom and home.
- Look for this live-streamed Vermont College of Fine Arts event:
Reading and Lecture with Daria Peoples-Riley on Saturday, July 10, 11:30 – 1:00 pm
DISCOVER YOUR HIDDEN STORY
In this lecture, Daria will share how we can discover stories hiding within us. She will discuss how these stories, like treasures we often don’t know we have, offer us the opportunity to write with authenticity, personal truth, and the power to connect readers to each other and their communities. Daria will also be in conversation with guest author and VCFA alum Jessica Rinker about how she discovered the very first story hiding within her.
