Soundtrack Biography

a found poem in response to an exercise listing song titles and lyrics from different periods in our lives

Established: What’s Going On & Isn’t She Lovely

I don’t think these songs were out in 1969, but it feels like they’re in the window. Regardless, these are the titles that came to mind because a) I was a pop quiz, if you will, when my parents were college students and b) once arrived, my babydom brought joy to immediate and extended family at a time of great distress

First 15 years: Rainbow Connection & You’re the One that I Want

I spent a lot of time as a kid at home- lost and delighted doing arts and crafts, watching movies, playing music and board games. My sister and I had a record player, a junior version of the sound system tower that our parents had (yes, with a reel-to-reel). We had their duplicate albums. So I’m 9 years old playing Brothers Johnson and Steely Dan. AND we had kid albums: everything Sesame Street, the Muppet Movie, and a kid version of Grease. Grease was the first movie I was able to go to by myself. I remember walking to the theater (we lived on base) like a BiG girl!

Next 15 years: Cha Cha Cha & Giving Him Something He Can Feel

Enter the teen years. Golden age of hip hop. MC Lyte because … she’s MC Lyte. One of the earliest women to rise and shine. But we were both just teen girls then. She was “hard” and still very much a girl. Gifted and original. Still! In college, figuring out what girl+young lady+woman was supposed to mean, the girl group En Vogue was a tempting blueprint. I remember the little black form fitting dresses that my sorority sisters and I referenced as “our En Vogue outfits.” I remember the very last time I felt comfortable wearing it, too. Late 20s.

Now: Deep Inside & Bigger than My Body

I’m in a refreshed relationship with myself, my interior self. Looking around at the stories I’ve known and repeated for decades. Sitting still with emotions I’ve catalogued and stored for just as long. Because I’m fine. I got this. And I’m on my own and no one really cares. Lies. Everything I know is giving way to everything I’ve felt. It’s a glorious and unsettling, all at once.

Yet to Come: I am Light & Smooth Operator

Two states of being I experience now, and two realities I will embody moving forward for MYself

AudioBiography by Dasha Kelly

Isn’t she precious
Life and love are the same
Deep, deep inside
You know we've got to find a way
I've heard it too many times to ignore it
I'm not the mistakes that I have made
Or any of the things that caused me pain
Isn't she wonderful
It's something that I'm supposed to be
I am light
No place to be ending but somewhere to start
I'm bigger than my body gives me credit for
Bigger, precious, wonderful
Life and love
Too many times
They only get one day to shine
the rest of the week is mine
I am light