Staceyann Chin joins Tristan to talk about her poetry collection Crossfire: A Litany For Survival. They talk about how she’s doing in the midst of the Black Lives Matter uprisings and the pandemic. She delves into what it means for women to reclaim their bodies after sexual violation. They cover a lot of ground: misogynoir, sexual violence, racism, capitalism, poverty, and inequity. They go deeper and talk about some very personal stuff: queer sex, love, and relationships. Plus, Stacyann reads three of her poems from the book.

Poet, actor, and performing artist Staceyann Chin is the author of the new poetry collection Crossfire: A Litany For Survival, the critically acclaimed memoir The Other Side of Paradise, cowriter and original performer in the Tony Award–winning Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam on Broadway, and author of the one-woman shows Hands Afire, Unspeakable Things, Border/Clash, and MotherStruck. She has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show and 60 Minutes, and her poetry been featured in the New York Times and the Washington Post. She proudly identifies as Caribbean, Black, Asian, lesbian, a woman, and a resident of New York City, as well as a Jamaican national.