Promise, page 31
Norman Dwight Griffiths
Acknowledgments
The love of my mother and father is the spine by which I am formed and breathe.
Mom, you taught me how to love by your example. I am letting the world see.
Dad, your sincere attention, care, and support continue to guide me when I feel afraid.
I’ll never forget the power you each have placed inside the belief of living by one’s word and actions. The language I have learned as a daughter and a woman comes from the love you gave to each other and to our family. I love you both forever.
This book exists because of the wisdom and wonder of the village of communities that raised me:
My family—
Mom (1952–2014), Dad, Chris and Leigh-Anne, CJ, Michele, Adam and Jeff, Melissa and Eumir, Peggy Manel, Jacqueline Deneen, Ellen, Deborah, Carolyn, Arthur, Darren, Harvey, Elyse, Kandasi, Wanetta, Pinky, Michelle. And all of the cousins on every side! Uncle Ronald: I grieve your early departure from this world but I know that the love you gave this family means that you are with us always. Aunt Stephanie, Beloved Godmother: Your laughter, your trust, and the music of your brass bangles are my talismans. I’ll always hear your last words. Thank you for showing me how to be bold and to laugh with my entire mouth.
Melissa: The sisters who live in this story would not exist without my love for you. The way you shine keeps my heart on the dance floor.
Kamilah Aisha Moon: Rise, rest in love, my sister. I did not get to place this book or story in your soft hands but know that we are always holding hands, ever joined in our solidarity and poetry. Forever you will be Stevie Wonder–lovely to me. Your sudden farewell has changed me forever. girl, girl, girlgirlgirl. Meet me on that porch at eighty anyway, the way we’d planned, and tell me what you’ve seen wherever you are, sweet star.
The lives and powers of my elders—James Baldwin, Lucille Clifton, Audre Lorde, Toni Morrison—sing their truths, joys, and visions in the language they forged from the flesh of their words and lives. When I thought of surrender, they listened to my tears until I could stand up.
Walter Mosley—may I never forget the kindness, humor, and encouragement of our friendship. Thank you for reminding me of craft. Thank you for your genius, for your reading, and reading, and reading, and reading of my pages. Those early drafts would have never moved and leapt without your clear eyes and voice.
Sheldon Itzkowitz, PhD, ABPP, and Garrett Deckel, MD, PhD—your counsel and support kept my heart and head grounded in the name of resilience and possibility. Dr. Itzkowitz: The house will always greet you as part of our family. Your care has shown me how to trust the truth of the stories I have lived. Thank you.
There are many individuals and organizations that have welcomed and supported me over the years. I would like to thank the following individuals here for professional and/or emotional support: Chris Abani, Jeffery Renard Allen, Sarah Arvio, Paul Auster, Jill Bialosky, Nicholas Boggs, Mahogany L. Browne, Marie Brown, Margaret Busby, Christian Campbell, Jan Castro, Rachel Cobb, Edwidge Danticat, Toi Derricotte, Kiran Desai, Natalie Diaz, K.A. Dilday, Barbara Dimitratos, Cornelius Eady, Morgan Entrekin, Danielle Evans, James Fenton, Nikky Finney, Nick Flynn, Suzanne Gardinier, Aracelis Girmay, Angela Guerra, David Haynes, Rufus Scott Heath, Siri Hustvedt, Marcus Jackson, Mitchell Jackson, Marlon James, Riis Laurentiis, Canisia Lubrin, Valeria Luiselli, Nina Angela Mercer, Dante Micheaux, Ella Montclare, John Murillo, Steven and Annie Pleshette Murphy, Darryl Pinckney, Maya Pindyck, Iain Haley Pollock, Katie Raissian, Nicole Sealey, Taryn Simon, Oberon Sinclair, Safiya Sinclair, Tracy K. Smith, Suphala, Cheryl Boyce Taylor, Nafissa Thompson-Spires, Margaret Porter Troupe, Quincy Troupe, Sally Van Doren, Jenisha Watts, Phillip B. Williams, and L. Lamar Wilson.
Versions of what would (finally) become this book took place with the support of these institutions: Cave Canem Foundation, Kimbilio, the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, and Yaddo.
One of my great fortunes in this journey has been to have the faith of two incredible editors, Robin Desser and Caitlin McKenna. Robin: You said Yes. You recognized me right away in that immediate and necessary way that is crucial for a debut author. Your insight and voice carried us through an electric passage of ideas and imagination. For this alchemy, I have such love and respect for you. Caitlin: The gift of having you as my editor is indescribable. Your questions, your clarity, your warmth and wonder are the flare I carry to this finish line. I am filled with appreciation and beyond elated. I truly can’t say Thank you enough. I must praise the Random House team too: Tangela Mitchell, Rachel Rokicki, Clio Seraphim, Noa Shapiro. I am also delighted to praise the brilliance and kindness of my editor Dr. Yvonne Battle-Felton, and my publisher Jocasta Hamilton, and the entire John Murray Press team in the United Kingdom.
My agent and friend, Jin Auh, took me on in 2017. Her incredible faith and encouragement have been great gifts. Her care, respect, and brilliance gave me the ability to see something greater than I ever would have believed. Jin, what a beautiful journey we are on! I want a fuller word than gratitude for how I feel about you. One day I will find it. Thank you always. I would also like to express my thanks to the entire Wylie Agency, and across the sea: Jennifer Bernstein and Tracy Bohan.
Salman, let our love show this impossible world that nothing is impossible. I love you with every heart and story that has ever lived in me and every story that is to come. Salman—my joy, my home, my joy, my dream, and my miracle—Always.
By Rachel Eliza Griffiths
Promise
Seeing the Body
Lighting the Shadow
The Requited Distance
Mule & Pear
Miracle Arrhythmia
About the Author
Rachel Eliza Griffiths is an artist, poet, and novelist. Seeing the Body (W. W. Norton, 2020) was selected as the winner of the 2021 Hurston/Wright Foundation Legacy Award in poetry, was the winner of the 2021 Paterson Poetry Prize, and was nominated for a 2020 NAACP Image Award. She is the recipient of fellowships including Cave Canem Foundation, Kimbilio, and the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, and was selected as the 2020 Stella Adler Poet-in-Residence. Griffiths is also the image designer for the libretto Castor & Patience, written by Tracy K. Smith and composed by Gregory Spears, which premiered at the Cincinnati Opera. Her work has been published in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Paris Review, and The Georgia Review.
rachelelizagriffiths.com
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Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Promise
