NO SENSE TO MAKE
“a subtle undulation of a chaotic mind, finding stillness
& the symphony that awaits us all “
INTRODUCTION
There is very little sense in this world for the Black Woman and I decided long ago that it is not my business to create it. My work is rooted in the complexities of rebirth. I change constantly as does my medium, syntax, and attention span. I change so often that I rarely recognize myself. That terrified me for a long time, until I realized that the light is never in one place nor is the darkness. It is in one’s innate nature to change.
I find myself in tension with the need to explain myself and the deep desire to untether myself from such labor. I am a vessel for the laughter of God, the hymn of the ancestors, the undercurrent of the people. I am terrified and alive. Alive and terrified.
My artwork is my place of refuge and reckoning. Voluntary and involuntary states of mind consume me till they have been released fully. I surrender and listen, the medium announces itself. In this I have found that different parts of my person are amplified during different seasons of my life, depending on the medium and pace at which I embody it.
If I were to succumb to the limitations of language, I can say I am an Artist. A composer of melody and thought. A spirit worker, with one hand in the fire and the other in the belly of the ocean. I am a mess. The kind that makes Basquiat a genius and Black Girl’s from Harlem a threat.
OVERVIEW
At the heart of NO SENSE TO MAKE lies the concept of chaos—a force that can be both disruptive and liberating. By embracing curiosity as a guiding force, the poems in "No Sense to Make" embark on an audacious quest to make sense of a world that often defies logic and comprehension.
I will be navigating different aspects of my life following the lines of chaos that led to unimaginable realms of clarity. These are poems written in the waiting room - from my time in foster care as I eagerly awaited a home to call my own , to the 17 years spent seeking answers for the chronic illness that held me captive in my own body. I will also explore the essence of waiting on romance, tenderness and self acceptance.
I will look at adoption, adaptation and different realms of healing from interpersonal, societal and institutional violence. I will be reflecting on medical racism and the medical trials I was forced to endure whilst seeking answers for my chronic illness and how my experience is linked to a horrific history of medical experimentation on Black Women in America.
These poems embody the wait & its weight and the inevitable levity that comes with letting it all go.
The letting go, a practice that has been birthed from ritual and praise. The ritual of discovering oneself again and again in mirrors, archives, in the eyes of another. I do not have family members to gift me memory or sense of self - so I have traveled through time and space to seek reflections of all that I am through the history, tongue, heat and pulse of the diaspora.
Praise which has been cultivated from years of travel and witnessing the glory of God in different cultures, landscapes, and versions of myself. I have died many times to know this life, these poems serve as an account of the death and the resurrection. The cyclical nature of the Black Woman's experience and the rise to liberation through ancestral wisdom and presence.
I am here because I imagined myself to be and before I knew to imagine, I was lingering in the mind of the Black Women who came before me - who fought for a freedom I am alive to embody and expand. There is and never has been a way for the Black Woman, the orphan, the disabled - we are the ones Jesus found outcast lingering in thirst, untouched, unseen, but so very alive. I, the bleeding woman, will write of what happened when I touched the hem of the garment, and will sing of what came when the bloodshed came to an end.
I am here because of the prayers of elders and the faith of children. I am here because the electricity of loving another person is enough to bring the pulse back to a still heart, I am here because I believed there was more for me than the suffering that was strategically and systemically administered to me and generations of others. Somewhere, elsewhere on the other side of chaos, is a peace that I hope to discover, bask in and share with you in this collection.
There is no sense to make. We spend half our lives trying to justify the sense of a world that was built to confuse, divide and exploit. When one finally outgrows the propaganda we’ve been fed, there is a second birth - one signs a new lease on life with new eyes and an inevitable shift in vision. It is that vision we speak of when we speak of culture, when we speak of healing. It is this vision I will be exploring throughout these pages.
How can we dismantle the plantation in our minds? There exists a place where freedom rings, if we allow ourselves to surrender to the pulse of the earth that is always calling us in, beyond the sound of warfare and flesh turning to ash, there will always be an angel singing, a choir warming up, a hymn written in the darkest hour will survive the course of time, and so here are the hymns, laments, cornerstones, questions, odes and explorations of a chaotic mind finding stillness in a world that was not built with the Black Woman in mind.
Through the use of archive - both personal and ancestral, I will be dissecting my identity and building it back up again in a myriad of ways, utilizing poetry, image and sound to express the intricacies of the woman I have found myself to be. In doing such, I aim to invite people into a realm of questioning, introspection, and confrontation that I believe will ultimately lead the reader to a sense of reckoning.
DELIVERY
There will be approximately 100 poems in this collection.
The manuscript can be delivered 7 months from signing.
A third of the work has been written - works compiled from Amyra’s travels across the diaspora - New York, Barbados, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Accra, Morocco, Mexico City, and Bahia.
ABOUT
Harlem’s own Amyra León is a dynamic and captivating artist known for her exceptional talent as a composer, poet, and visual storyteller. She is thrilled to be the current Artist in Residence at the Louis Armstrong Museum where she is currently creating a multimedia body of work in response to Louis Armstrong’s archives.
Amyra has carved a unique path in the music and literary worlds, enticing audiences with her soul-stirring performances, thought-provoking lyrics and improvisational skill as she seamlessly transcends medium and genre. She studied Experimental Theatre at NYU and is an alumni of the renowned Nuyorican Slam Team.
Poetry has allowed Amyra to summon her own reality time and time again as she faced the intricate violence of being raised in New York City’s Foster Care System. Her work, often autobiographical, tends to generational trauma, Black liberation and communal healing. In honoring the wonder and terror of her own history, she invites us to reckon with our own.
Freedom, We Sing, Flying Eye 2020, León’s debut picture book, is endorsed by Amnesty International and was shortlisted for the Waterstones Book Prize, UKLA Book Awards, North Somerset Teachers Book Awards and nominated for the Kate Greenaway Medal. Illustrated by the wonder that is Molly Mendoza. Concrete Kids, Penguin Teen 2020, León’s debut YA poetry collection was shortlisted for the Goddard CBC Social Justice Prize and named a YALSA Amazing Audiobook for Young Adults and received starred reviews from Kirkus Review, Booklist and School Library Journal. Both publications are currently being taught in schools throughout the United States and United Kingdom.
Celebrated in the NAACP Image Award nominated series PBS: American Masters In the Making, Strange Grace: The Life and Art of Amyra León is an intimate look into the intersections of Amyra’s multidisciplinary practice and her remarkable journey of becoming.WITNESS , Amyra’s debut album, is an experimental soul record that serves as a hymn and a battlecry, an ode to the Harlem that raised her. Her third studio album COLOR ME SAFFRON exploring the dynamics of love will be released Summer 2024.
She has performed everywhere from the back corners of bars in New York and London to the frontlines of marches against injustice leading thousands with her battlecry. She has toured throughout the United States and Europe countless times and has performed at Lincoln Center, BAM, Brooklyn Public Library, The Apollo Cafe, TEDx and more. She has shared stages with Common, Nikki Giovanni, Carrie Mae Weems, Brian Jackson, Hellogoodbye, and more.
Amyra composed Una Mujer Derramada in collaboration with Sivan Eldar commissioned by and performed with Lisbon's Gulbenkian Orchestra, the Montpellier National Opera, and the Paris Chamber Orchestra. Amyra was honored to perform the composition as the sole vocalist with all three orchestras.
She is the inaugural recipient of the Battersea Arts Centre Phoenix Award which led to the 2019 London premiere of her debut play VASELINE, co-commissioned by Arts Council England.
Amyra is constantly looking for new ways to shake and awaken her audience to the nuances of self and the intricate pathways toward healing that are required for individual and communal liberation. Through visual, linguistic, and embodied storytelling, Amyra ignites a flame in all who experience her vibration, one that is unflinching in its wonder.
PREVIOUS WORKS
LITERATURE
Freedom We Sing - Flying Eye Books, 2020
Concrete Kids - Penguin Teen, 2020
Here I Stand - Anthology, Amnesty International, Walker Books 2017
The Water Under The Bridge - Self Published 2016
MUSIC
Color Me Saffron, Album 2024
Sage, Lovers or Friends, Terrified - Singles released in 2023
Holy & Alive , 2021
WITNESS, Album 2020
Two Hours In July, EP 2018
Something Melancholy, Album 2016
COMPOSITION
Would You Kill God Too? - Directed by W.J. Lofton, Commissioned by Ava Duvernay
Una Mujer Derramada - composed in collaboration with Sivan Eldarfor Orchestra. Commissioned by the Gulbenkien Orchestra, Montpellier National Opera, and the Paris Chamber Orchestra.
Mejór Allá by Danyeli Rodriquez Del Orbe - Original score and sound design
Ritual to Beauty, Directed by Shenny De Los Angeles and Maria Marrone Hassan, Original score
Illuminate Imagination - Original Composition for bass
Mana Sky - Original Composition
Broken Bird, Directed by Rachel Gordon Harris, Original Song
Untitled, Directed by Mike Tyus, Original Score
THEATRE
VASELINE, Writer, Composer, Director, Performer 2019, 2024
In The Chrysalis, Writer, Composer, Director, Performer 2014
FILM
Color Me Saffron, Visual Album - Co-directed by Amyra, Mike Tyus, Luca Renzi
SAGE - Music Video directed by AMYRA
The Embrace of Morning - Writer, Director, Producer, Performer, Composer
Painted by Alexa Meade made with support from Arts Help Inc.
Ask Alice - Music Video for Kiah Victoria - Director, Cinematographer
Mana Sky - Short Film, Director, Composer, Actor, Editor
PBS American Masters In the Making - Strange Grace: The Life & Art of Amyra León Documentary about my life
CHALK, Directed by Zen Pace and Doug Harrison, Actor
Burning in Birmingham - Short film, writer, director, actor, producer
Strange Grace - music video, writer, producer, actor
AWARDS/NOMINATIONS
UKLA Book Awards, Shortlist 2022, Freedom We Sing
YALSA Amazing Audiobook for Young Adults 2022 Concrete Kids
Waterstones Book Prize, Shortlist 2021 Freedom We Sing
North Somerset Teachers Book Award, Shortlist 2021 Freedom We Sing
Goddard CBC Social Justice Prize Nominee 2021 Concrete Kids
Kate Greenaway Medal Nominee 2020 Freedom We Sing
NAACP Image Award Nominee, PBS American Masters: In the Making Series 2020
GRANTS/ RESIDENCIES
Louis Armstrong Museum Residency 2023 -2024
Conscious Crypto Creator x Arts Help Grant, 2022
Arts Council England Project Grant, 2019
Battersea Arts Centre Phoenix Award, 2019
Battersea Arts Center Residency 2018 & 2019
Peter S. Reed Foundation Grant
SPACE Ryder Farm Residency
The Orchard Project Residency
NOTABLE COMMISSIONS
Pampers - Shiloh & Freddy - Original Children’s Short Story
WNBA - Liberty Women’s Campaign
Alexa Meade - A Simple Tide - Original Poem
National Sawdust x Liederband Festival, Original Opera Composition 2021
Apples & Snakes London, Original Composition, London 2021
The Gulbenkian Orchestra
Montpellier National Opera
Paris Chamber Orchestra - Una Mujer Derramada composed in collaboration with Sivan Eldar
SKY Sports Commercial
AARP Commercial
FUTURE WORKS
I May Just Call You Home - children’s book looking at a foster child’s thoughts in the waiting room as they envision their future home.
Darling - children's book, love letter to Black children
De La Tierra - Feature Documentary & collection of essays/poems following my journey as I research the roots of my heritage with my newly acquired birth certificate and travel to the Dominican Republic to meet my birth Father for the first time at the age of 31.
Color Me Saffron - Third studio album focused on the dynamics of love and intimacy
AS IT WERE - coffee table poetry and photography book
Louis Armstrong Residency: I have created a multimedia body of work in response to Louis Armstrong's archive. The work will be presented at the Louis Armstrong Museum & Queens College in Spring 2024.
AUDIENCE
This book is for Black people, especially Black people with wombs. It is a hymn, a battlecry, a dissection of the systems that have been built to tear us down & provides an invitation to summon the blueprint of our own identity, our present, future and how to process the responsibility that comes with breathing life into our past. May this collection serve as a path toward the liberation of body, mind and soul.
This book will also resonate with those who know chronic illness, adoptees, spiritual communities, mental health advocates, social workers, musicians, and anyone on the intricate journey toward self discovery trying to make sense of a world where there is no sense to make.
AUDIENCE METRICS BASED ON SOCIAL MEDIA & STREAMING PLATFORMS
KIN TITLES
The following kin titles require you to sink your teeth into the mind of the author - providing a deep realm of intimacy as well as unflinching honesty. These are all books that whether in form, exploration, theme, or intensity - remind me of the essence of NO SENSE TO MAKE. I thought of these collections immediately because they all ignite a similar sense of safety and confrontation within me as a reader & that is the fine line I aim to dance in with this book.
Black Girl Call Home by Jasmine Mans takes us on a journey in which we dissect home as a place, a feeling, a person, an idea, the site of warfare and miracles - always bringing us not only closer to the author but ourselves as individuals and a culture. Along this vein Manorism by Yomi Sode follows through the dissection of masculinity through every lens. Childhood to adulthood - life at home, culture now and historically, the landscape of the fine arts a fine backdrop for the chaos, the violence, and the beauty. This collection does not shy away from the truth, nor does it downplay the beauty. Dear Senthuran by Akwaeke Emezi - a “spirit memoir” transcends time and space , spirit and body with a deep focus on their personal experience of ritual and sacrifice. Quiet by Victoria Adukwei Bulley is seething in its simplicity. It is a ravenous storm housed in a lullabye that keeps you coming back for more.
When thinking of the work I aim to create and how it exists on the page, Kamau Braithwaite comes to mind. His work demands the readers attention and also conducts it. The shapes, bold and italic letters, the way the poems are written on the page - some are forgiving, aligned with what one could expect, others make a canvas of the page, demand an opinion, a tone, a rhythm, a seeking that words simply placed do not often ignite. His book Black & Blues is a good example.
Concentrate by Courtney Faye Taylor explores the intersections of personal , cultural and diminishing memory using newspaper clippings, collage and personal archive. Seeing The Body by Rachel Eliza Griffiths utilizes imagery to cultivate a tangible intimacy with the poetry alongside it.
In this way, I aim to design the poems in this collection with meticulous thought when it comes to placement, font, size, and the use of image and archive.
PERFORMANCES & VISUALS
PERFORMANCES
I would like to tour this book upon its release. I have experience building my own tours and traveling with a full band all around world. I have performed to rooms ranging in size from 50-5000. I am thrilled to see how we can partner to build something very special for the performances around this book.
I will be able to do performances that are strictly poetry readings as well as musical performances solo with piano/ full band/orchestra’s etc. The potential is endless for the ways this work can be shared beyond the page.
VISUALS
I have been directing my own visuals for the last 10 years. When the manuscript is done, I am looking forward to building a visual universe to accompany the work. I am envisioning a short film & dance piece. My music has been used by dance companies worldwide & I know that there will be countless ways to collaborate with them - whether it is live performances, filmed visuals etc.
Below you will find a handful of live performances and visuals that I have made for different poems. You will also find a section that shows the ways my poetry has been utilized by dancers so you can get insight into what is possible beyond the page.
MARKETING & PUBLICITY
This book will resonate with a myriad of people, so it is important that the marketing be dynamic and innovative in its approach. As a musician, poet and educator I have been able to cultivate a wellspring of connections that I look forward to utilizing in the promotion and amplification of NO SENSE TO MAKE.
I have a following of 25k across social media platforms.
I will be composing an original score for the collection - this will be an exploration of classical and jazz music to be performed with orchestra and full band. It will serve as a powerful entrypoint to the work and will allow me to bring this piece to life in a series of dynamic performances both live and filmed.
I would like to make a short film to accompany the book which can be submitted to film festivals and have its own release a few months after the book hits shelves.
I want to plan a book tour. There are many options here. I have toured extensively both solo and with my band and I have performed with 3 acclaimed orchestras. I could plan a series of experiences centered around poetry, sound and community expansion. I know many musicians and poets that I can easily plan performances with.
I toured 2-3 times a year from 2015-2019 and was on tour in Europe when COVID began. My last tour was Fall 2021 opening for Hellogoodbye along the east coast. I have otherwise been performing in NY and London on a regular basis. I had sold out shows at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe & Louis Armstrong museum in 2023 and look forward to following that streak as I return to the stage this year.
I am releasing a new album in August. I will be performing in music festivals this summer and touring in Fall to support the release. I will be performing along the East & West coast in the US, with confirmed performances in London, Paris and Berlin with 10 + cities to be added in the coming months with audiences ranging from 75-5000.
The album release will expand my audience tenfold & will be heavily supported with press, radio play, festival performances and merch. All of the singles I released last year had ample radio play including BBC2, BBC6 and stations throughout the EU.
During the album roll out, I will be incorporating different poems from the collection & will be able to easily cross promote building excitement and anticipation around NO SENSE TO MAKE in advance of its release.
NOTABLE VENUES
Lincoln Center
Louis Armstrong Museum
Hammer Museum
Brooklyn Academy of Music
Nuyorican Poets Cafe
Joes Pub
The Apollo Cafe
St. Ann's Warehouse
National Sawdust
Montpellier National Opera, France
Theatre du Chatelet, Paris
The Gulbenkian Orchestra, Lisbon
Southbank Centre, London
Jazz Cafe, London
Gilles Peterson Showcase, London
Battersea Arts Centre, London
Roundhouse, London
Church of Sound, London
TEDxTeen NYC
SXSW
New York University
Boston University
Rutgers University
SUNY Oswego
SOAS University London
Oxford University
Latitude Festival , UK
Lovebox Festival , UK
Citadel Music Festival , UK
Jazz ™ , Romania
London Jazz Fest
Latin Jazz Fest, London
Winter Jazz Fest NY
CONNECTIONS
Rosario Dawson, Actor & Activist
Monique Coleman , Actor & Writer
Dominique Fishback , Actor & Writer
Rachel Cargle : Loveland Foundation
Jari Jones , Activist & Model
Amine , Rapper
Kimbra, Musician
Amnesty International UK
Los Angeles County Museum
Hammer Museum
Brooklyn Public Library
Museo Del Barrio
Lincoln Center
Nuyorican Poets Cafe
Joes Pub
We Need Diverse Books
Working People's Party
Behind the Book
PBS
Inclusive Storytime
Roundtable Books
Lithub
Firelight Media
AUTHOR CONNECTIONS
US
Jasmine Mans
Elisabet Velasquez
Eve Ensler
Aja Monet
Mahogany Browne
Saul Williams
Falu
WJ Lofton
Candice Iloh
Walela Nehanda
UK
Yrsa Daley Ward
Victoria Adukwei Bulley
Yomi Sode
Dean Atta
Sophia Thakur
Caleb Femi
Travis Alabanza
