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    Chlorine Sky
    Chlorine Sky
    Chlorine Sky
    Ebook198 pages1 hour

    Chlorine Sky

    By Mahogany L. Browne

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    A novel-in-verse about a young girl coming-of-age and stepping out of the shadow of her former best friend. Perfect for readers of Elizabeth Acevedo and Nikki Grimes.

    "Mahogany L. Browne's debut YA ia an absolute masterpiece. It will leave you breathless." -Elizabeth Acevedo, New York Times bestselling author of The Poet X 

    She looks me hard in my eyes
    & my knees lock into tree trunks
    My eyes don't dance like my heartbeat racing
    They stare straight back hot daggers.
    I remember things will never be the same.
    I remember things.

    With gritty and heartbreaking honesty, Mahogany L. Browne delivers a novel-in-verse about broken promises, fast rumors, and when growing up means growing apart from your best friend.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRandom House Children's Books
    Release dateJan 12, 2021
    ISBN9780593176412
    Author

    Mahogany L. Browne

    Mahogany L. Browne: The Cave Canem, Poets House and Serenbe Focus Fellow alum is the author of several books including Swag & Dear Twitter: Love Letters Hashed Out On-line, recommended by Small Press Distribution & listed as About.com Best Poetry Books of 2010. She has released five LPs and is co-founder of Brooklyn Slam (currently ranked 2nd in the world) and has toured Germany, Amsterdam, England, Canada and recently Australia as 1/3 of the cultural arts exchange project Global Poetics. Her journalism work has been published in magazines Uptown, KING, XXL, The Source, Canada's The Word and UK's MOBO. Her poetry has been published in literary journals Pluck, Manhattanville Review, Muzzle, Union Station Mag, Literary Bohemian, Bestiary Brown Girl Love and Up The Staircase. She is the Artistic Director of Urban Word NYC (as seen on HBO’s Brave New Voices) and facilitates performance poetry and writing workshops throughout the country. She is the publisher of Penmanship Books, curator & FridayNight Slam host at Nuyorican Poets Café, and Program Director of BLM@Pratt Institute. She also is a recipient of an Agnes Gund Art for Justice award.

    Read more from Mahogany L. Browne

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    • 4/5
      (4.5)

      I have only read a handful of novels in verse, but they are quickly becoming a favorite genre of mines and this was a clear standout.

    Book preview

    Chlorine Sky - Mahogany L. Browne

    ME & LAY LI AIN’T TALKING

    cause she think she cute

    cause she think I ain’t.

    Must be pretty boy Curtis

    all in her head

    all in her mouth

    making her forget

    her home training.

    Making her forget

    her daddy got a gun for a living.

    & her mama gone.

    & THIS IS WHY I THINK

    she ain’t got no sense, nohow.

    Cause ain’t nobody but fast girls

    checking for Curtis.

    & he keep her name close

    & she don’t come home

    the same way no more.

    She must think she cute!

    Must think I ain’t!

    Like she ZendayaSkaiStormMeganNickiBeyoncé or something

    Like she long curly hair movie star perfect

    Like she perfect pink nail salon pop queen perfect

    Like she all new Macy’s rack & Adidas shell toe perfect

    Like she glossy magazine cover most beautiful girl perfect

    Like she ain’t never had a bad day in the sun perfect

    Like she ain’t never had a bad picture kind of perfect

    Like she got a life don’t nobody judge cause she’s so perfect

    I mean,

    look how she keep me waiting like

    I’m supposed to wait on Curtis

    or something

    & I hate his light-skinned self!

    Especially because he ain’t as funny

    as he think.

    Especially when he calls me black

    & ugly & stupid!

    & LAY LI STAY GRINNING

    like he the sun

    like we ain’t friends

    they boyfriends see Lay Li

    It’s like they see the best parts of they favorite movie

    & they favorite movie got they favorite soundtrack

    & they favorite soundtrack make them feel strong

    & they swing they arms around & show off to whoever is looking

    I mean, sometimes I get caught looking but I ain’t got n o t h i n g to say

    Not Lay Li

    She act like she never lookin’

    She must think she cute

    But she ain’t just cute

    Lay Li pretty

    & they boyfriends at the skate rink

    forget they home training around her.

    So when Curtis say the things

    I’ve already said about myself

    & she laugh

    I know deep down inside

    she ain’t never care about me at all.

    LAY LI THE SUN

    & she called me best friend

    Called me smart

    Called me her ace

    Called me her right-hand sis

    Lay Li called me my name

    Ain’t never call me nothing but my name

    When everyone else call me nothing

    She say best friend—like sis-patna-friend & she laugh bright bright

    Because Lay Li the sun

    now I know she just said them lies

    to keep my shadow

    all up & around her sunshine smile

    LIKE THAT TIME WE SKIPPED SCHOOL

    for the pool party

    & all the girls wear bikinis

    but I got my one-piece on

    with a white T-shirt on top.

    & the boys just looking

    like they mama ain’t taught them nothing worth knowing.

    Lay Li got that good hair

    so she don’t care if it’s wet & loose.

    But my hair ain’t close to being good

    so I keep it in a real real real tight ponytail

    until the sun get so hot

    I jump in & cool my sadness down.

    It’s like I already know.

    So I let my shoulders sink low

    like my heart be

    & I watch Lay Li

    how she walks & everybody stops

    & I’m trying to learn

    how to walk in a room & turn their heads

    how to move in a crowd & be the light

    how to keep a boy’s interest

    but not just any boy

    a boy who remembers my name

    maybe a cute one with long eyelashes

    & gentle hands

    the kind of hands that keep to themselves

    how to keep my sister, Essa, from talking bad to me

    my older sister tell you don’t mess up my name,

    she go so far to move her mouth & show her perfect white teeth

    it’s EEEEEE-SaaHHHH like mantra, like a prayer

    how to move through the world

    standing tall & demanding to be named properly

    how to be more than a baller

    how to be someone that keep ’em guessing

    how to stop stressing because ain’t nobody

    got time for the kind of shade I got

    but everybody got time for some

    s u n

    LAY LI SMILE AT CURTIS

    & he only a little bit cute

    but he ain’t funny or smart

    so that’s how I know her grin is a lie.

    & I pretend I don’t hear his slur

    I pretend I don’t see his hazel eyes

    when he say lose her ugly black ass

    & Lay Li laugh.

    Laugh like a knife in the back or laugh hysterical like the girl running from the scary man in a hockey mask or laugh like kids being followed around the mall by security or laugh like I do when my sister, Essa, makes me the butt of the joke. She laugh & laugh & laugh & laugh &

    she say Shut up, Curtis

    but it sounds like Come here.

    I dunk my head underwater slow

    & wait

    just wait

    I wait even longer

    for her to say a n y t h i n g like:

    don’t talk about my friend, I don’t care how pretty your eyes is!

    But she just say shut up

    & she l a u g h

    the kind of laugh that make me forget

    we even friends

    the kind of laugh that make me forget

    we even

    & I think

    I could stay here

    where it’s all a blurry aqua blue,

    I think

    I could stay here

    where my eyes

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