When I consider my thirty years writing picture books and poetry that honor Black achievement, I know that the template for this life began in 1975 while I read crisp new library books about Harriet, Rosa, and Martin. I know that my love for music, meter, and metaphor was encouraged by passionate Black singers playing on my daddy’s stereo. And as for my mind-boggling dream to birth a brood of books, while female, southern, and Black, that goal was spun from critiques and talks with generous Black writers who shared their light with me.