Kwame Sound Daniels

Kwame Sound Daniels is an artist based out of Maryland, USA. Xe are an Anaphora Arts Residency Fellow and are pursuing an MFA at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Xir first book, Light Spun, was out with Perennial Press August of 2022. Xir second book, the pause and the breath, was out January of 2023 and on Lambda Literary's list for Most Anticipated of January. Xe enjoy reading, learning plant medicine, and sitting in the sun in xir spare time.

Instagram: @the.okra.winfrey

Is there a genre of music that influences your writing/thinking? Do you listen to music while you write?

I listen to music when I write prose. I like to create worldbuilding music playlists and character study playlists. With prose, I find that mostly listening to music from other countries (Japanese Shoegaze and Dream Pop and indie, Russian Post-Punk, Corridos Tumbados) in languages I don't fully yet know helps me to focus because it splits my attention, if that makes sense.  And I'm inspired by the unfamiliar sounds I hear. I recommend "Episode 33" by She Her Her Hers to everyone I can because it sounds like lights cascading in a waterfall. Just gorgeous. Also check out Kaho Nakamura's "Sono Inochi" for a song that sounds like pure sunshine. According to Spotify I listened to it 49 times in one day! And check out Natanael Cano's "Soy El Diablo" remix with Bad Bunny. It's extremely good. For poetry, I can't listen to anything but the sound of my own fingers typing. I heavily prefer silence. I'll make character and world-building and vibe playlists for poetry manuscripts but I can't listen to them while I write.

Favorite non-reading activity?

I love to cook. I used to be a cook, actually. Went to culinary school and everything, became the keyholder of a hole-in-the-wall restaurant serving Armenian food. I love to try out recipes from around the world. Armenian and Spanish cuisine (my head chef in culinary school was from Spain) heavily influence my flavor profile. My most casual and easy-to-prepare meals are based on them. Went through an intense phase where I was making Guatemalan and Nigerian food and food of the Enslaved to engage with ancestral work as a form of care and active love of the self. The first time I made an ashcake I cried. I wanted to know what my ancestors tasted, though I know it couldn't be the same, exactly. But it's wonderful to think they know that their knowledge survives in me.

Is your go to comfort food sweet or savory? Is it something you make yourself? Does food inspire your writing?

My plant-based comfort food these days is pasta, usually ziti or rigatoni, with pan-toasted walnuts, onions, garlic, paprika, dill, and tarragon sauteed in olive oil, a squirt of dijon mustard and lemon juice, the noodles added to the pan and arugula thrown in alongside it until softened. My ovo-vegetarian comfort food is eggs in any form. Usually an omelet, sometimes scrambled, sometimes soft-boiled, sometimes egg salad with matzos. I cycle through comforts. In 2019-2020 my comfort food was 8 variations on lentil soup.

I make my own food 85% of the time. Even my own broths. I find it difficult to eat other people's cooking from restaurants I haven't worked in! I'm very particular about how I want my vegetables prepared and I like to be in control of what goes into a food. Food definitely inspires my writing. It's in every manuscript I've ever written. It's part of my practice of embodiment in poetry and even in prose.

Do you have another artistic outlet in addition to your writing? Do you sew? Paint? Draw? Knit? Dance?

I crochet and I paint! Right now I'm making a granny square tote bag for a friend (which I'll also be foraying into sewing for) and I recently painted the pacific ocean from an aerial view for another friend. For years I specialized in abstraction through cubism and suprematism but I've recently branched out into abstraction through palette knife painting. I find it very freeing! It's a lot more like poetry. I kind of just see where I go and sometimes the painting takes me into unexpected places. Currently, I'm learning illustration in digital art, too. I'm in the "learning to sketch" stages. Which is harder because its unfamiliar. But I have parallel play voice calls with friends to make art alongside them multiple times a week and it's very fulfilling. A close friend is assisting me in learning the ropes with Clip Studio. I'm so used to traditional art. I have been blessed with the ability to draw hands extremely well all my life but I am barely able to draw a human face. It'll take some work but I'll get there!

What brings you great joy?

I love tea and infusions. I love the sun on my legs. I love my skincare routine. I love rest. I love the smell of the air after rain. I love my dog. I love my friends. I love my days, even the hard ones.